Two women abducted, gang-raped and paraded naked in Sindh

• Over 20 men of Tangri community raid house of Rajput clan member and abduct, rape two women.
• They intended to avenge free-will marriage of a Tangri woman and Rajput man.
• Police rescue women after 20 hours of abduction, register case against accused men.

KARACHI: Two women were allegedly abducted, paraded naked and gang-raped in a village near Mirpurkhas district's Naukot town in Sindh, The News reported, citing local sources.

Sources privy to the matter said that over 20 men of the Tangri community raided the house of Muhammad Hanif Rajpoot, a resident of 16-Mile at Nafees Nagar on late Saturday night and abducted two female members of the family.

They said that the incident was moved by the free-will marriage of a woman from the community, who left her house and wedded a Rajput man.

However, the victims were rescued with the help of police, 20 hours after the abduction when PPP MPA Mir Tariq Talpur took notice of the incident and visited the area.

An initial medical examination conducted by Dr Zebnissa Kolachi at the Rural Health Centre, Naukot, confirmed that both the victims had been raped.

Speaking to the media, the victims revealed that the abductors took them to their area and gang-raped them for hours.

"Both of us were stripped off our clothes, forced to parade naked and then raped by many men for hours during detention at an unknown location," they said.

The relatives of the victims, who protested the horrendous act in the town, alleged that the house of Mohammad Hanif Rajput was attacked, ransacked by the notorious outlaws from the Tangri community, who took away two women of the family at gunpoint. They alleged that Naukot police were reluctant to chase and arrest the armed men, who were already involved in criminal activities in the area.

The FIR, under relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, has been registered against the accused men on the complaint of one Ali Raza Rajput, the husband of one of the abducted women, only when the PPP MPA spoke to the DSP, SHO and other police officials.

Parents of the victims alleged that had the police officials acted on time, the women would have been saved. They alleged that the criminals on gunpoint also took away gold, cash, and other valuables from the house of Rajput.

"Nobody feels safe from people of these gangs of Tangri community but police of Naukot town have never bothered to take any action against them," they added.

Mirpurkhas SSP Captain (retd) Asad Ali Chudhary, on the directives of high-ups of Sindh government, reached Naukot town and sought information from villagers and victim women on Tuesday.

The SSP said that the police team had so far arrested 12 accused nominated in the FIR and the remaining would soon be arrested. He said that justice would be done with the aggrieved people.

The SSP further said that since the initial investigations have confirmed sexual abuse against the affected women, they have sent the samples for DNA tests.