The Supreme Court announced Thursday that it would uphold the acquittals of five of the six men accused in the gang rape of Mukhtar Mai, the woman who gained international recognition and emerged as a symbol of voiceless and oppressed women in Pakistan.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Shakirullah Jan, upheld a decision by the Lahore High Court and acquitted five of the accused in a judgment that rested on flaws in the prosecution’s account of the rape and discrepancies in Ms. Mukhtar’s statements during initial investigations.
The five men who were acquitted have been jailed for years already in connection with the rape, which occurred in 2002, and are expected to be released this week. The sixth, Abdul Khaliq, is to complete a life sentence.
Ms. Mukhtar was raped on the orders of the village council in Meerwala, a dusty farming village in Punjab Province in a case that jolted the country and ignited international outrage.
The rape was said to be a punishment for her younger brother’s supposed illicit relations with a woman from a rival tribe, the Mastoi. Later police investigations found that the boy had been molested by three Mastoi tribesmen and that the accusation against him had been a cover-up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/world/asia/22pakistan.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss
