WUNRN
Asian Human Rights Commission
PAKISTAN - TWO YOUNG CASTE HINDU
WOMEN RAPED BY MUSLIM LANDLORD - ONE LATER MURDERED
4 December 2013 - The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that two scheduled caste, Hindu women were raped by their Muslim landlords before their family members. Later on, one of them was murdered in revenge for making a report to the police. She and her mother were abducted by one of the landlords from outside the clinic of a doctor in broad daylight, close to the police station, and she was shot dead in front of her mother. The Shadi Pali Police Station of Umer Kot district, Sindh, took time to register the First Information Report (FIR) in order to give the rapists time to abscond. The family members of the victims are displaced from their village and are living on the roadside in the cold nights but the police and authorities have refused to help them. In providing protection to the rapists, the police and notables of the area forced the victims to reach to a settlement and give amnesty to the rapists. Once again the police have shown their efficiency to get approval from judicial magistrate so that perpetrators are freed.
CASE NARRATIVE:
Ms.
Kakoo Kohli (24) and her elder sister, Nallan (26), who belong to the Jane sect
of the Hindu religion, were residents of Goth Lalu Shar, Umarkot district,
Sindh province. They were both raped by Mr. Mohammad Khadim Shar and his
brother Mr. Sirajuddin Shar, the sons of the landlord and the owner of the
village, Mr. Lalu Ilyas Shar.
The girls and their family members were working in the
fields of Shar and were provided a hut to live in. The main culprit, Mohammad
Khadim Shar, was lusting after Shrimati (Ms.) Kakoo and on several occasions
asked for sexual favors. However each time Shar was denied. The poverty of
Kakoo and her sister and lack of economical support prevented them from leaving
their workplace. After a long session of frustration, anger and shame,
generated by the constant denial and rejection from Ms. Kakoo, Mohammed Khadim
Shar finally decided to take her by force.
Dalit women, who are mostly defenseless, are considered
'sexually available' and are targeted for sexual violence by the Muslim
community. Dalits in particular and the entire Hindu community in general are
vulnerable and voiceless and unable to oppose the atrocities which are
perpetrated on them. The Kohli Hindus are considered to be the lowest people in
the Hindu religion.
On October 18, the perpetrator, Mohammad Khadim Shar took
his brother Sirajudding Shar with him and attacked Ms. Kakoo's house at gun
point and restrained all the members of the Kohli family, including the mother
and father. Khadim raped Kakoo and Siraj raped Nallan in front of their family
members. After the rape, the attackers threatened the family that if they report
the incident to anybody they would be killed. However, after the incident,
Kumar Veerji Kohli, the father of Kakoo and Nallan took the victims to the
Shadi Pali police station to report the rape. However, as usually happens, the
police refused to file the report until they completed their investigation.
After two days the police agreed to file an FIR which infuriated the main
perpetrator, Khadim Shar. The police arrested Sirajuddin Shar but allowed
Khadim to abscond. Sirajuddin was able to obtain bail.
In the meantime, the Umarkot police, on the instructions
of the landlord, arranged a Jirga, an illegal court declared by the high court
of Sindh, consisting of elders of the area. The Jirga compelled the victims and
her family to reach a settlement with the perpetrators and this was sanctioned
by the Judicial Magistrate. The police officials were happy to serve the
landlords and the case against the perpetrators was withdrawn.
Khadim Shar was insulted that a Hindu woman from the
lowest caste had filed a case against him and this, in his eyes, was a
challenge to the supremacy of Islam. On November 29, while he was at his
fields, he received information that Kakoo and her mother were attending the
clinic of a local doctor. He took the jeep belonging to his friend and abducted
the woman and her mother at gun point in full view of many persons. After
reaching his fields he shot Kakoo in the head. He was arrested but still has
not been charged as there were no eye witnesses and police classify the mother
as a biased witness.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
A large number of scheduled castes are working as
agriculture workers and are in the worst condition of debt bondage due to their
poor working conditions. While men are exploited as bonded workers and are
victims of the forced and bonded labour, the women particularly young girls are
often sexually abused by landlords and local influential people. The Pakistan
Dalit Solidarity Network (PDSN), the Dalit Network of over 30 organizations
supporting rights of marginalized groups particularly the minorities and
scheduled castes, says that they have noticed that sexual violence against
Scheduled Caste women and young girls is on rise in rural areas of Sindh.
Newspapers have been publishing over a dozen news items about acts of sexual
violence against Dalit women during the last three months alone in the
According to Covert Wires, it is noteworthy that the Dalits consist of more than one-third of the Pakistani Hindu population but the Pakistanis for propaganda purposes do not consider them Hindus and try to Islamize them. About 14 Lakh Dalits have not been included in the Hindu population in last census which counts the Hindu population as 26 Lakh whereas its actually 40 Lakh.
Website Link Gives Suggested Actions.