Two teenage girls, who were kidnapped from their house in the Naokot area of Sindh's Mirpurkhas district and accused men from the area's Tungri community of raping them in captivity, recorded their statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure before the judicial magistrate of Digri taluka on Thursday.

They were initially supposed to appear before the magistrate on Tuesday, but their attendance was delayed as police said they were not out of trauma yet.

According to Mirpurkhas Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asad Chaudhry, one of the girls told the magistrate today that she was raped by two men, Ali Nawaz and an unidentified man, while the other said suspect Nawab had subjected her to criminal assault.

The SSP, too, had earlier said the girls were examined by medico-legal officers at a rural health centre and it had been established that they were subjected to rape.

In a related development, Professor Akbar Kazi, head of the forensic department at the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, told Dawn.com that the victims' samples were sent to the varsity's laboratory for DNA testing.

"The samples include the victims' clothes with multiple stains that have been processed for DNA profiling," he said.

Arrests

The two girls, aged 19 and 14, were kidnapped on Sunday, February 6, and were recovered the next day after a police raid at a house owned by Hayat Tungri, who is one of the 20 suspects nominated in the abduction case.

SSP Chaudhry said today police had so far arrested 15 of the 20 suspects, with three of the arrests being made recently. Of the three recently arrested men, one was identified as Hayat Tungri and another as Ali Gul Tungri, he said, adding that Nawab was also among the arrested suspects.

All of the arrested suspects were remanded in police custody while primary suspect Ali Nawaz remained at large, the SSP said.

Abduction and recovery

SSP Chaudhry had earlier told Dawn.com that the girls and their families, who were from the Rajput community, maintained that the offence was committed in revenge after a married woman from the Tungri community had eloped with a man from their community.

According to the first information report, men from the Tungri community had forcefully entered the complainant's house, looted valuables at gunpoint and taken away his wife and sister on Sunday (Feb 6).

Later on Monday, several hundred of the Rajput community's members had taken to a section of the Naokot-Mirpurkhas road, demanding immediate recovery of the kidnapped girls and the arrest of the culprits.

In the meantime, Naokot police, with the help of informers, had carried out a raid on Hayat Tungri's house and recovered both the girls.

They were escorted to the Nafees Nagar police post before they were taken to the Naokot police station, where they narrated their ordeal, according to an earlier Dawn report.

However, the father of one of the girls had said that the girls were initially taken to the house of a policeman, Assistant Sub-Inspector Gulzar Tungri, of the Nafees Nagar police post.

On Tuesday, the two girls met SSP Chaudhry, the Jhuddo deputy superintendent of police and the Jhuddo station house officer and told them that they were also taken to the ASI's house right after their abduction, before being shifted to Hayat's house. They accused ASI Gulzar Tungri of connivance with the kidnappers in the whole episode.

Meanwhile, Sindh High Court has taken notice of the incident and directed the deputy inspector general and SSP of Mirpurkhas to appear in person before it on February 15 along with a report carrying details of the action so far taken in the case.

Activists demand JIT, judicial commission

Following the incident, human rights activists have called for the formation of a joint investigation team and judicial commission on the matter.

The demands have been made by the Sindh Human Rights Defenders Network and Women’s Action Forum, whose delegations have separately met the victims and their families.

The Sindh Human Rights Defenders Network has also conducted a fact-finding exercise and alleged that ASI Gulzar Tungri is closely related to the suspects and influencing the investigation. It has concluded that negligence on police's part is evident in the case and influential persons in the area are trying to mediate between the two parties for reconciliation.