Court Frees Rapist After Agreeing To Marry The Girl
Court has let go and dismissed the case against a rapist after making deal with the judge to marry his victim According to his attorney, a Pakistani court released a rapist who had married his victim in a bargain arranged by an elders’ council in the northwest of the nation on December 28. Rights advocates are incensed by the judgment because they believe it legitimizes sexual abuse against women in a nation where most rapes go unreported. A lower court in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Buner district sentenced Dawlat Khan, 25, to life in jail in May for raping a deaf lady. He was nevertheless freed from jail on Monday, December 26, after the Peshawar High Court approved a settlement reached outside of court by the family of the rape victim. The victim and the rapist are from the same extended family, according to Amjad Ali, Khan’s attorney, who spoke to AFP. After a deal was made with the aid of the neighborhood jirga (traditional council), he said, “both families have patched up. After his unmarried victim gave birth to a kid earlier this year, Khan was apprehended after a paternity test revealed he was the child’s biological father. Since women are frequently viewed as second-class citizens in Pakistan, rape cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute. The Pakistani Human Rights Commission expressed its “appalling” disapproval of the agreement that frees the rapist....