ISLAMABAD, Mar 18 – A young woman in Pakistan’s Punjab province was allegedly kidnapped and forcibly married twice before being gang raped and stripped naked in revenge for her brother having eloped with a girl from a different caste.
Sanaullah, 22, had eloped with the daughter of a man who belongs to the Mallah caste, of the same village in Chiniot district, after the families refused to allow them to marry, the Dawn reported Tuesday.
The girl’s family called a village council meeting which decreed that Sanaullah’s sister would have to marry Zahid Ali, brother of the girl who had eloped with Sanaullah.
Following the decision of the panchayat, a person said to be an accomplice of Zahid’s kidnapped Sanaullah’s sister from her house and performed Nikah with her — only to divorce her after five days.
Later, Zahid and his family married her to Zahid’s cousin Noor Ahmad.
After some days, four members of Zahid’s family gangraped her and subjected her to torture.
They stripped her naked, tied her to a tree in the village and called her parents to get their daughter back in return for their girl.
The family got the girl back a month after her alleged abduction.
The girl approached the Lalian tehsil magistrate, who ordered her medical examination and registration of a case.
Police confirmed that a panchayat had forced the victim to marry Zahid in retribution for her brother’s act in February earlier this year. — IANS
