Pakistani Police Arrest More Than a Dozen Who Allegedly Ordered ‘Revenge Rape’ of Teen

Pakistani police arrested more than a dozen people who sit on the board of a village council in Multan for allegedly ordering a 16-year-old girl’s rape as an act of revenge against her brother.

“A total of 29 people were involved in this ghastly crime, and we have 25 of them in our custody,” Multan City police officer Ahsan Younus told Reuters Thursday.

The council, also known as the panchayat, allegedly ruled that the girl be raped after a family member accused her 16-year-old brother of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

The council is also accused of ordering that the victim’s brother rape the 16-year-old girl as punishment. The family handed the girl over to the victim’s brother on July 17 in front of the all-male panchayat and the victim’s parents.

Police began investigating the council members responsible for the order after both families filed police reports accusing the other family’s son of sexual assault, local news outlet DAWN reported.

Younus said police discovered the council’s role in the alleged rapes after speaking with both families.

“All the village council elders who ordered the revenge rape have been arrested,” he said.

Younus added that the victims and their mothers were sent to a women’s protection center.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has also launched an investigation into the case.

Panchayats, or jirgas, are groups of local elders who have been known to dole out justice to villagers as a way around the formal legal system, which many villagers say is corrupt.

The formal justice system does not recognize these groups, which are considered illegal.

The practice of “revenge rape” among these tribal councils made international headlines in 2002 when a council ordered that a woman named Mukhtaran Mai be gang-raped as revenge for her brother’s alleged sexual assault against another woman.

Mai made an unconventional decision to file criminal charges against her attackers. Although her attackers eventually went free, Mai became a lead advocate for women’s rights in Pakistan.