PESHAWAR: A girl, who was allegedly paraded naked in her Dera Ismail Khan village last month, on Monday moved the Peshawar High Court seeking protection from the suspected culprits and inclusion of the man, who filmed the incident, in the FIR.

In the petition, the 16-year-old prayed the court to direct the provincial government and provincial police chief, to provide security to her and family.

She also sought the court’s orders for the inspector general of police and DIG of DI Khan range police to submit weekly report of the progress on investigation into the incident to ensure dispensation of justice to her.

The petitioner further prayed the court to direct the IGP and DIG to include the name of the person, who is suspected of filming the incident, in the FIR and adding that offence in it.

She said further directions should be given to the police to recover the video from possession of the suspect or anyone else to whom he might have handed over the video to avoid its misuse.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Syed Afsar Shah will take up the petition for preliminary hearing today (Tuesday).

Also seeks inclusion of man who filmed incident in FIR

The respondents in the petition are the provincial government through chief secretary; home secretary; provincial inspector general of police; DIG of police, DI Khan Range; SHO of Chodwan police station in Daraban tehsil, and senior member of the provincial board of revenue.

In the petition, the girl narrated the chilling account of what happened to her on Oct 27 at her village Garamat in DI Khan and how the local police supported the suspected culprits by twisting facts in the FIR.

The petition, filed through Supreme Court Bar Association former president Qazi Mohammad Anwar, states that the petitioner is aged around 16 and is an orphan living with her mother, brother Sajid and sisters.

She claims that around two years ago her brother Sajid was accused of gifting a cellphone to a female relative of Sajawal’s family and that the issue was placed before a punchiat (jirga) of Garamat village in Daraban tehsil, which was presided over tehsil nazim Mooni Khan.

The girl said before the punchiat was held, her brother had denied the charges and offered to take oath but despite that the punchiat imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on Sajid.

She added that the fine was reduced to Rs300,000 when Sajawal had kicked her mother before the punchiat.

The petitioner said on Oct 27, she along with other females of neighboring houses went to fetch water from a water pond at around 2pm and that on her way home, she was passing nearby the residence of Sajawal and Sanaullah when the accused including Sajawal and his brother Shahjehan, Nasir and Aslam sons of Faizu, Sanaullah and others came out.

She claimed that the accused forcibly took her inside the house, tore her clothes and took dupatta away.

The girl added that she was later paraded naked in the streets, while a person caught the incident on camera.

She said the suspected culprits carrying weapons later threw her outside her house naked.

The petitioner said when her mother learnt that she was forcibly taken to the house of Saidu, she had rushed to the Chodwan police station but the SHO declined to extend any help.

She said she along with her uncle Hakim and mother later went to the police station but a distorted version of the incident was recorded by the police in the Daily Diary but FIR was not registered until 8pm.

The girl said in the meanwhile, the local residents raised hue and cry prompting the police to register FIR.

She added that the name of the man who filmed the incident was not included in the FIR.

The petitioner claimed that initially, Section 354-A dealing with the stripping of a woman and exposing her to public view was not included in the FIR but later, it was done to calm down protesters.

She said despite repeated requests, she and family had not been provided with any security by the police and that politicians had been visiting her showing sympathy for political gains.

The girl said as she was an orphan, her mother had approached a welfare organisation, In Search of Justice, Peshawar, on Nov 3, which onward approached senior lawyer Qazi Mohammad Anwar, who announced contesting her case and invoked the jurisdiction of the high court.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2017