The brutal murder of a man in Bhara Kahu last week had shocked residents, and the police arrested the victim’s wife and daughter as the killers.

A case was registered in response to a complaint lodged by the victim’s brother alleging that the wife, her brother, and her daughter had axed the man to death.

The brother, while talking to Dawn, showed ignorance regarding the motive but claimed that the man’s brother-in-law had been hurling threats regularly.

Investigation Officer Arshad Ali said the victim was murdered as he believed the daughter’s behaviour was not moral. He had asked his wife to keep an eye on the daughter, but was ignored. Later, he was attacked with an axe which led to his death.

However, both accused, during interrogation, alleged that the victim had attempted to rape the girl and had even tried to sell her in his native town.

A senior officer told Dawn that the family originally hailed from Dir and was residing in a farmhouse where the victim was a watchman. Earlier, the girl had been a housemaid in Lahore, where she had indulge in activities not deemed moral.

After she returned to her family in Islamabad, she continued her activities which came to the notice of her father. The girl and her mother opposed the victim’s decision to sell the girl for money and to settle old enmity with rivals.

The police tried to conduct the girl’s medical examination, but she refused.

“The law allows the victim to refuse undergoing medical examination,” the officer said, adding that the girl maintained that her father had attempted rape and there was no need of medical examination.

The officer said the police would investigate the allegations leveled against the victim by the wife and daughter. If the allegations are proven true, the accused would benefit.

However, this is not the first incident of alleged rape by close relatives in the capital, and one of these allegations has been proven false.

In December 2012, a man allegedly raped his 24-year-old daughter-in-law. The incident came to light when the victim approached the Kohsar police and lodged a complaint stating she had been raped for three days in a house in Sector F-7/4.

The victim told the police that her father-in-law had brought her to visit her mother who was residing in Islamabad. However, the accused took her to a servant quarter where he subjected her to rape for three days.

Although the police registered a case against the accused, he is still at large. He was a native of Chakwal, and a security guard by profession. However, the investigations are still not complete and the accused remains at large.

Similarly, in September 2012, a 20-year-old girl alleged that her father had raped her after binding her with a chain.

The victim said her father, a security guard by profession, had raped her twice on September 4 and 7, 2012. In response, the Kohsar police registered a case on charges of Pakistan Penal Code-376 (rape) and 342 (wrongful confinement) and started investigations.

The victim said she had started living with her parents at a servant quarter in F-6/4 after being separated from her husband. Her father had attempted to rape her, but due to fear she had not complained to anyone.

Later the accused managed the rape on September 4 and 7 in the absence of the victim’s mother. She said her younger sister had also witnessed the act after she suddenly came home around 10:30am on September 7.

The victim then narrated the act to her mother and lodged a complaint with the police for legal action, but the accused managed to escape and remains at large.

Likewise, on June 8, 2011, a resident of a village in Golra approached the police and alleged that she had been raped twice by her father, who later tired to murder her as well.

She said she had complained to her elder sister about the act, which annoyed her father and he shot at her. In response, the police arrested the father, and recovered the weapon and the bullets.

During interrogation, the father denied his involvement and told the police that he wanted to kill his daughter and his elder daughter’s husband after he caught them red-handed.

He said he had lost his temper and had fetched his pistol to kill them both. The 50-year-old accused added that he was not fit for such a relation with anyone, and the medical examination of the girl proved that she had not been raped.

In another incident, a man allegedly raped his 12-year-old niece on December 23, 2011 in Tarnol. The incident came to light when the victim’s mother approached the Tarnol police and lodged a complaint against her brother.

In response, the police registered a case against the accused and started investigations to ascertain the allegation. A raid was also conducted at the house located in Village Dhok Kashmirian, but was found locked. The accused, who was described as a religious person and a fruit vendor by profession, had managed to escape.

The police said the victim’s mother had come over to her brother’s with her son and daughter, and had later left for the market along with her son, leaving her daughter behind. Her brother took opportunity of this and raped his niece.