A teenage girl was allegedly paraded naked in a village in southern Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Oct 27. The incident has drawn widespread condemnation with different organisations and individuals demanding justice for the unfortunate girl.

The immediate concern of the ill-fated family is a video footage, which the girl, 16, claimed was recorded by one of the accomplices of the accused persons. “If the footage is circulated in the area it will bring further bad name to our family,” said brother of the girl, Sajid Khan, who had remained at the centre of a controversy over two years ago.

The young man in his early 20s was charged by the present accused persons, including prime suspect Sajawal, that he had handed over a mobile phone to a female of their family. That issue was resolved for the time being by a panchayat (jirga) which had fined him Rs300,000.

Sajid Khan told Dawn on the premises of the Peshawar High Court that he was innocent and he had stated on oath that he was not involved in any such wrongdoing. Despite that, he said, those persons had acted in such a barbaric manner.

The girl in her statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure had recorded chilling account of what happened to her on that tragic day and how she was forced by the local police to record a distorted version of the occurrence. She stated that she had gone in the morning to fetch water from a pond along with some other women and while returning the nine accused persons forcibly ripped apart her clothes. She said that when the accompanying women tried to give a shawl to cover herself the accused threw it away.

The girl stated that she entered a nearby residence and tried to hide under a cot, but two of the accused dragged her out to the street and made her to run through the nearby streets. After Friday prayers, she said, she was left in a jungle from where she reached residence of her aunt.

The victim claimed that after wearing clothes, her uncle took her to the Police Station Chaudhwan where her mother and other relatives were sitting outside as the SHO had forced them out of the station by telling them that they were liars. She added that the police threatened her of recording statement of their choice failing which her brother would be implicated in other cases.

The treatment meted out to the family by the local police has also brought a bad name to the KP Police Department. Before registering the FIR on complaint of the victim girl, the officials of the police station in DI Khan had registered a fabricated FIR against the girl’s brother and two other male relatives.

In that FIR the police mentioned a female member of the accused persons’ family as complainant who alleged that she had gone to fetch water from a nearby pond, and on her way back home the suspects had dragged her and torn of her clothes.

Instead of incorporating the real incident in the FIR registered on complaint of the girl, the police had mentioned a twisted version of the story so as to minimise heinousness of the offence. In the FIR No 210 the victim was mentioned as a complainant stating that while returning back home after fetching water from a pond the nine accused persons had forcibly taken her inside residence of one Saidu, torn off her clothes and had beaten her.

In the initial press release issued from the office of Regional Police Office, DI Khan, instead of mentioning the occurrence it was given that a clash took place between two groups over some dispute of women. It was mentioned that two FIRs were registered against both the groups for tearing of clothes of women of their rival family.

Initially, the FIR of the girl was registered under Section 354 of Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with the use of criminal force intended to attack her modesty. That offence is punishable only up to two years imprisonment.

Subsequently, after hue and cry was raised on social media and by different organisations, the police were compelled to include Section 354-A of PPC. That section deals with stripping a woman of her clothes and exposing her to public view in that condition. That offence is punishable with death or with life imprisonment and shall also be liable to fine.

Section 354-A was incorporated in the PPC through the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, XXIV of 1984, during the military government of General Ziaul Haq. The law was amended after the infamous incident of Nawabpur where in March 1984 two women and a nine-year-old girl were paraded naked by an influential rival family.

Last week, the PHC remained the centre of attraction as the girl had filed a writ petition through senior advocate Qazi Mohammad Anwar. In the petition multiple requests were made to the court, praying to issue direction to the KP government and its Inspector General of Police (IGP) to ensure protection of the petitioner and her family.

The petitioner had requested the court to issue direction to the IGP and regional police officer, DI Khan, to submit weekly progress report of the investigation to the high court. It was further prayed to include one Rehmatullah in the FIR as an accused as he had recorded video of the incident.

In the light of written comments filed by the IGP, the high court bench headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi disposed of the petition on Nov 22.

“In the peculiar circumstances of the case, this court directs the worthy Inspector General of Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to ensure that the investigation in the instant case be carried out in a timely manner as provided under the enabling provisions of Criminal Procedure Code, 1898. And in particular, the progress report of the investigation be submitted by the Inspector General of Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to the Director, Human Rights Cell, Peshawar High Court, Peshawar, for the perusal of the Chief Justice in his chambers,” the bench ordered.

Legal experts and social activists believe that the high-ups of KP police should take appropriate action against the responsible police officials for their highhandedness while registering a concocted case against the victim’s brother as well as distorting facts of the incident. There is also a demand that provisions of Anti-Terrorism Act should be included in the FIR.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2017