Mukhtar Mai, Pakistan Gang Rape Victim, Fearful After All But One Suspect Cleared

ISLAMABAD — 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 was assaulted after the council in her village in Punjab province ordered she be raped as punishment for her 13-year-old brother's suspected affair with a woman of a higher caste. She attracted global sympathy and much international media coverage by shunning custom and speaking out about her ordeal.

Fourteen men were originally accused in the case, but a lower court acquitted eight. In 2005, an appeals court acquitted five out of the six remaining defendants, saying witness statements contradicted the prosecution case.

The Supreme Court upheld that ruling Thursday, said defense lawyer Malik Saleem. It also upheld the life sentence handed down to the sixth man.

Mai 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 told The Associated Press. "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."

Rights activists condemned the decision, saying it left women even more insecure.

"This is a setback for Mukhtar Mai, the broader struggle to end violence against women and the cause of an independent rights-respecting judiciary in Pakistan," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

Pakistan's criminal justice system has a very low conviction rate, in large part because police, prosecutors and judges are underequipped, undertrained, corrupt and beholden to the rich, powerful and politically connected in the districts where they serve.

Given this, many people turn to village councils to dispense justice based on tribal traditions. They sometimes order women beaten or killed.

Mai's decision to go public brought an international spotlight on the struggles of women in the South Asian country, and earned her many plaudits. She was named Glamour magazine's Woman of the Year, and now runs a school in her village of Meerwala.

Comments

[JEP]

09:05 AM on 04/25/2011

"because police, prosecutors and judges are underequipped, undertrained, corrupt and beholden to the rich, powerful and politically connected in the districts where they serve."

Can we all admit this is a global phenomenon, not local?

Especially that "beholden" part.

[elbzee]

08:17 AM on 04/25/2011

I would say that this pretty well proves my theory that religion is the most dangerous evil on earth.

[Brautigan]

06:43 AM on 04/25/2011

Ordered to be raped because of something her thirteen year old brother did?

Serious question: is this a religiously sanctioned practice in Islamabad? This is nothing but abhorrent.

[Talab]

07:13 AM on 04/25/2011

While the village council will claim that they acted under islam what was done to that woman would be a unforgivable crime in a true islamic society

[elbzee]

08:18 AM on 04/25/2011

I have a hunch of the gender of that council.

[nybirdcalls]

02:19 AM on 04/25/2011

Sickening!

[Mithrall]

01:38 AM on 04/25/2011

Absolutely disgusting... at a loss for words.

[Susan Shaffer]

08:46 PM on 04/24/2011

another pakistani newspaper story regarding the legalities of the trial

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/5551/mukhtaran-mai-verdict-where-the-court-went-wrong/

[Susan Shaffer]

08:39 PM on 04/24/2011

a lot of people say that moslems do not speak out against what other moslems do.

here is a link from a pakistani newspaper with regard to this case and where things went wrong

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\04\25\story_25-4-2011_pg3_5

[andycash]

06:46 PM on 04/24/2011

A perverse sense of tribal justice where the highest Wisdom leads to brutal punishment.
Where there is fear there is no love.

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

02:57 PM on 04/24/2011

A group of people, a city council no less, ordered this:
"Mukhtar Mai was assaulted after the council in her village in Punjab province ordered she be raped"

Shocking. These low life animals, even with no education, apparently, don't understand decency ? Women are merely servants? Ug.

[SallySassalot]

11:09 AM on 04/24/2011

If only God were real and able to hurtle lightning bolts at people like those men.

[Welshish]

07:04 AM on 05/03/2011

Fanned!

[bouyant]

07:14 PM on 04/23/2011

PATRIARCHY in any form is oppressive to females. We can quibble over degrees.

[ResistImperialism]

02:17 PM on 04/23/2011

And why has America been arming, funding, and sleeping in the same bed with the government of this country, even throughout the rule of the military dictator Musharraf???

[Hypocrites are Watching]

11:40 AM on 04/23/2011

I simply cant see why a book written by Bronze Age man is still used as a reference for anything but how not to think live act or what NOT to believe in. Look at the Judeo-Christian bible. Besides the thousands of contradictions there are quite a few abhorrent sexual practices mentioned. ( I am sure there are similar stories in the Quran) Lot offering his daughters to be raped by the sodomites to save the angels from being so treated. (Now I am guessing but if they were indeed angels they didn’t need protection RIGHT) These same two daughters slept with their father later…. Abraham slept with his handmaid (its ok if your wife is barren) etc…So having said that we see that again religion (not spirituality) is the downfall of mankind.

[ManiKhawaja]

12:39 PM on 04/23/2011

perhaps you should pick up a copy of the quran (the real translation not one by bigoted anti muslim websites). its not that difficult.

http://www­.dawn.com/­2011/04/22­/going-bac­k-to-mukht­ar-mai.htm­l

This is from the second largest newspaper in Pakistan. The punishment was dished out following barbaric tribal customs that predate islam in that area.
It was an islamic imam who protested the ruling and gathered support in the village and brought the news to a local journalist and the police.

[Hypocrites are Watching]

10:34 PM on 04/23/2011

Oh my gosh A follower of Islam did the right thing UM thats what ALL people are supposed to do.Do not defend religion its like a woman defending her abusive husband (and pretty much for the same reason) Dont even try to tell me that Islam treats women as equals because no one will believe you. I am an atheist and abhor all religion.

[daytrader2]

01:58 PM on 04/24/2011

How can so many people be brainwashed into acting like they do?

The thought that any ones God,would approve harming women and children is
way beyond the ignorance of humanity.

[Hypocrites are Watching]

10:43 AM on 04/23/2011

I am going to throw up. This is just vile and disgusting.And "we" support this country!?????????????? Pull EVERYTHING out of there and send a bill for whats owed.!!

[ms.understood]

11:38 PM on 04/24/2011

i totally agree! they, among others, are the reasons that we can't seem to get this country in financial order. I say stop supporting any governments until we can get this country back to where it needs to be!

[JeanPaulSatire]

09:10 PM on 04/22/2011

Women in Pakistan evidently bear a remarkable burden: they are not only accountable for their own actions, but also for the actions of all the men around them.

[ms.understood]

11:42 PM on 04/24/2011

this is not only in pakistan. how many times have we heard women being told to not jog alone, or not to go out at 3am because something "bad" may happen to them? then, in a rape trial, her sexual history is placed on trial more heavily than the rapist. if women are truly free, then they wouldn't need to alter anything that they would normally do just to be safe from rapists who don't have a right to do anything to anyone in the first place.

[Brautigan]

06:46 AM on 04/25/2011

The 1950's called. They want their argument back.