The chairperson for the Sindh Child Protection Authority MPA Shamim Mumtaz made the stunning assertion on Saturday that it would make sense to seek justice at the hands of a feudal landlord in a child rape case in Pano Aqil.
“What do you want, witnesses? Medical report? If two things go in the girl’s favour so why is the man accused not being punished?” she said, when speaking to the media.
“So when he is not being punished, then I say, instead of making enemies if we can adopt some other way… the court is doing its job, the police is doing its job but we are at the same point that we were two months earlier, at Zero.”
A 14-year-old girl was raped for two months and blackmailed. The suspects recorded the crime on a camera and blackmailed her. Four men have been arrested, and two men have been granted bail. A case was registered at the Baiji police station.
MPA Shamim Mumtaz asked why they should not solve the “problem” by getting the family justice today? “The wadera is this village’s figurehead (father) and a father always makes the right decision for his children,” she said.
“So why should we not also consult that father? Because if that father can judge properly and give them justice then Sindh Child Protection, of the Government of Sindh [supported it].”
The Sindh Child Protection law was passed in 2011. PPP’s MPA Shamim Mumtaz was appointed as the chairperson of the Sindh Child Protection Authority. in January 2021.
She recommended to the victim’s family that since there was a delay in justice, they should “patch up” with the men accused of raping the girl.
The Sindh High Court banned jirgas in 2004, seventeen years ago. The argument was that a parallel justice system could not be allowed to function.
