Pakistan News:Mukhtar Mai

Pak apex court denies Mukhtar Mai justice

Agencies  | April 22, 2011 | Updated 10:42 IST

Mukhtar Mai, now 40, was gang raped in June 2002 on the orders of a village council in Meerwala town, 120 km southwest of Multan. Pakistan's supreme court on Thursday freed five men accused in the notorious gang rape of a woman under orders from a village council in 2002, angering the victim and human rights groups. The ruling left just one of the initial 14 suspects in prison. Mukhtar Mai, now 40, was gang raped in June 2002 on the orders of a village council in Meerwala town, 120 km southwest of Multan, of Punjab province as punishment after her younger brother was wrongly accused of having illicit relations with a woman from a rival clan. The boy was 12 years old then. Fourteen men were originally accused in the case, but a lower court acquitted eight. A local anti-terrorism court (ATC) had sentenced the six accused men to death, but the Lahore High Court acquitted five of the men in March 2005, and commuted the sentence for the main accused, Abdul Khaliq, to life imprisonment. "The country's supreme court upheld that ruling on Thursday," defence lawyer Malik Saleem said. A threejudge bench headed by justice Shakirullah Jan upheld the life sentence given to Khaliq. Mai expressed disappointment at the verdict, saying she no longer trusted Pakistan's judicial system. "I have waited and endured problems for five years. If they had to give such a verdict, why did they cause me so many problems for five years? They need not have taken suo motu notice if they had to uphold the earlier judgment," she said. The victim, who emerged as the symbol of a movement for women's rights after her assault, said she would not request another review of the case. "I am scared these 13 people will come back to my village and harm me and my family," Mai, who broke down and wept after hearing the ruling, said. "I have lost faith in the courts, and now I am leaving my case to the court of God. I am sure God will punish those who molested me." She acknowledged that the original FIR filed in 2002 against those accused of raping her may have had flaws but pointed out that she was illiterate at the time. "What is my fault in this? Why is the court punishing me?" she asked. About 100 people held a protest in Multan in her support following the verdict. Rights activists condemned the decision, saying it left women even more insecure. Noted women's rights activist Farzana Bari said the judicial process for handling rape is flawed and civil society groups would not accept the apex court's order. "This is a setback for Mukhtar Mai, the broader struggle to end violence against women and the cause of an independent rightsrespecting judiciary in Pakistan," Human Rights Watch said in a statement. With the money Mai received as compensation from courts after a three- year legal battle, she built her village's first girl's school and launched the Mukhtar Mai Women's Welfare Organisation. The case file - Mukhtar Mai was a seamstress in her village, when her 12-year-old brother was falsely accused of having an affair with a woman from a powerful clan - To avenge the woman's honour, the village council ordered her gang-rape - While other women brutalised in such crimes have been shunned, her family took her to the authorities