Dear Friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the gang rape and alleged murder of a Hindu girl from the Meghwar caste by influential people belonging to the ruling party of Sindh Province. The police of District Umer Kot (formerly Amar Kot) have botched up the whole investigation in an effort to protect the influential people. The post mortem report of the girl has also been allegedly delayed to eliminate traces of rape. Furthermore, the police have arrested an Ahmadi in the case of murder and the deceased’s cousin in relation to the rape case in the effort to convert the cases into those related to conflict between different religious groups.
The Station House Officer (SHO) of the concerned police station was immediately transferred after the incident on the instructions of influential persons.
CASE NARRATIVE:
The information below has been collected from local journalists, police officers, human rights activists, and members of Hindu Meghwar Community.
Hawa Meghwar, a 16-year-old girl, from a lowest caste of the Hindu community in Dadro Village of Kunri, Umer Kot (former Amar Kot) District, Sindh, has been allegedly gang raped and murdered on August 24. The district police have still not completed the investigation; instead, the police have detained more than 16 persons and tortured them to force them to confess to the rape and murder in an effort to protect the actual influential persons involved, who belong to the ruling party in Sindh Province.
Hawa was working in a primary school as a teacher and also as a cleaner. On the day of the incident, she was returning back from the house of the School Principal. On the way, it has been alleged that four young men abducted her in a car and gang raped her. The young men hail from the influential families and one is the son of a local landlord, Nazar Mohammad Faqir, who was former head of the Union Council and belongs to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
In the afternoon, the girl was dumped outside her house, in precarious health conditions. She was vomiting when the parents found her. Hawa’s parents are poor and her father does labour on a daily basis and earns barely enough for survival. Hawa’s family members are tenants of Mr. Zahid, who belongs to the Ahmadi sect. Zahid immediately took the girl and her family members to local hospitals for checkups, but during this time she died. No one knew she was raped and murdered until the postmortem report revealed so after four days.
Before her burial, the Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Riaz Bijarani learnt that Hawa had been raped and he quickly stopped the burial and took the body to the Kunri Civil Hospital for postmortem. The hospital authorities were however pressured through unknown persons not to conduct the postmortem. The authorities tried to take time to conduct the postmortem so that evidence of rape could be wiped out.
The Meghawar Hindu Community have leveled the accusation that members of the Sindh Assembly from the District immediately approached high officials of the police to transfer the SHO Bijarani from the Kunri Police Station for his having taken personal interest in the rape and murder case. Before the medical report was issued, the SHO was transferred. A lady doctor was called in the late hours to conduct the autopsy, and she was seen shivering at the time when hospital authorities instructed her to conduct the process.
The autopsy took more than 48 hours, but it established that Hawa was raped and that she died an unnatural death. To ascertain the DNA of the rapists, tests were not possible as the hospital authorities kept her body parts for four days in open place so that DNA would be destroyed. On the protest of local people, who protesting for fair inquiry in to the case, the authorities sent the body parts to Karachi, 400 kilometers from the Kunri Sub-district. But no results have emerged.
Before reporting for his new duties, the newly appointed SHO, Inspector Tasawar Husain Jat, went straight to the house Mr. Nazar Mohammad Faqir, the influential man whose son is accused by the local people as being the chief perpetrator. Mr. Faqir briefed the SHO and then the SHO started his hunt for the “suspects”.
The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Abdul Qayyum Pitafi, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ali Raza and SHO Jat made up a team and began arresting suspects. Zahir, the Ahmadi, who is the owner of the house where Hawa’s family are tenants was arrested two days before the filing of the police first information report (FIR) and underwent severe torture. The same treatment was meted to 15 other persons, mostly from the Meghwar Community. Hawa’s first cousin and brother in-law were also taken into custody on the instructions of the influential persons from the ruling political party.
Finally, the police arrested two persons: Mr. Zahid from Ahmadi community, to cater to any objections made by Muslims, and Hawa’s Hindu cousin Nirdesh Meghwar. Zahid was not able to walk and even to talk after his torture, whereas Nirdesh was tortured by the SSP himself in Umer Kot. The police have accused Nirdesh of having an illicit relationship with Hawa and that both wanted to marry. Police officials, however, did not know that there was an open chink in their concocted story. Unlike Islam, in Hindu religion, cousins cannot marry, and they are always treated like brother and sisters. When journalists pointed this out to police officials, they claimed that they both wanted to convert to Islam.
Zahid has been shown as arrested in a murder case, because according to police, Zahid wanted to have an illicit relation with the victim girl. Nirdesh has been arrested on the charge of rape. The police have intentionally ignored the fact that Hawa was abducted, gang raped, and murdered on the same day and in the same time frame. The police still have not answered the questioned put forward by journalists who have inquired into the police version of events.
In reply to queries from the AHRC, senior police officials has said that their method is to first arrest and then start the investigation; first investigating and then arresting the accused persons is a western method according to the police.
Local human rights activists and journalists are worried that the police are trying to instigate the Muslim Community against the Ahmadi Community, who as it is are living in fear of a fresh attack. The Meghwar Hindu community is the poorest and most hapless Community of the country, and following Hawa’s rape and murder the community is under heavy pressure from the government and powerful persons of the area. Members are scared of being implicated in blasphemy cases wherein they will be accused of burning pages of the holy book and scared of their girls being kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam in local madrassas. Nevertheless, some members of the Meghwar Community and human rights activists have been conducting regular protest rallies.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write the letters to following authorities calling on them to conduct a judicial inquiry into the gang rape and alleged murder of a young Hindu girl, Hawa Meghwar, who was also called Hawi and was someone who belonged to the lowest Hindu caste of Meghwar. Please also urge them to prosecute the senior police officials of the District Umer Kot and Kunri Sub-District for working on the instructions of influential people and torturing innocent people to get confessional statements. The real culprits of the gang rape and alleged murder must be arrested. The Meghawar community and Ahmadis must be protected.
The AHRC will be writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteurs on the Question of Torture, Violence against women and Child Rights calling for their intervention into this matter.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ………………..,
PAKISTAN: Judicial inquiry demanded in rape and murder of Hindu girl and police botch the investigation
Name of victims:
1. Miss Hawa Meghwar, 16, also known as Hawi, resident of Dadro Village, Kunri Sub-District, Umer Kot District, Sindh
2. Mr. Zahid Ahmad, resident of Kunri, Umer Kot District, Sindh
3. Nirdesh Meghwar, resident of Kunri, Umer Kot District, Sindh
Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Mr. Nazar Mohammad Faqir, resident of Kunri, Umer Kot District, Sindh
2. Sub-Inspector Tasawar Husain Jat, Station House Officer, Kunri Police Station, Umer Kot
3. Mr. Ali Raza, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Umerkot District, Sindh
4. MR. Abdul Qayyum Pitafi, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Umer Kot District, Sindh
Date of incident: August 24, 2015
Place of incident: Kunri, District Umer Kot, Sindh
I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding the gang rape and alleged murder of a Hindu girl from the lowest Hindu caste of Meghwar by influential people belonging to the ruling party of Sindh Province. The police of District Umer Kot (formerly Amar Kot) have botched the whole investigation in an effort to protect influential people. For this reason, police of Mirpurkhas region including a Senior Superintendent of Police tortured suspects to confess to the murder and rape. The Station House Officer of the concerned police station was immediately transferred after the incident on the instructions of influential persons.
I shocked to know that the post mortem report of Hawa was delayed to eliminate traces of rape and also that Hawa’s body was kept unpreserved for four days in the local hospital before the tests were conducted.
The police have arrested an Ahmadi in the case of murder and deceased’s Hindu cousin in the case of rape in an effort to protect the actual criminals and convert the case into one involving conflicting religious groups.
According to the information I received, Hawa Meghwar, a 16-year-old girl, from a lowest caste of the Hindu community in Dadro Village of Kunri, Umer Kot (former Amar Kot) District, Sindh, has been allegedly gang raped and murdered on August 24. The district police have still not completed the investigation; instead, the police have detained more than 16 persons and tortured them to force them to confess to the rape and murder in an effort to protect the actual influential persons involved, who belong to the ruling party in Sindh Province.
Hawa was working in a primary school as a teacher and also as a cleaner. On the day of the incident, she was returning back from the house of the School Principal. On the way, it has been alleged that four young men abducted her in a car and gang raped her. The young men hail from the influential families and one is the son of a local landlord, Nazar Mohammad Faqir, who was former head of the Union Council and belongs to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
In the afternoon, the girl was dumped outside her house, in precarious health conditions. She was vomiting when the parents found her. Hawa’s parents are poor and her father does labour on a daily basis and earns barely enough for survival. Hawa’s family members are tenants of Mr. Zahid, who belongs to the Ahmadi sect. Zahid immediately took the girl and her family members to local hospitals for checkups, but during this time she died. No one knew she was raped and murdered until the postmortem report revealed so after four days.
Before her burial, the Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Riaz Bijarani learnt that Hawa had been raped and he quickly stopped the burial and took the body to the Kunri Civil Hospital for postmortem. The hospital authorities were however pressured through unknown persons not to conduct the postmortem. The authorities tried to take time to conduct the postmortem so that evidence of rape could be wiped out.
The Meghawar Hindu Community have leveled the accusation that members of the Sindh Assembly from the District immediately approached high officials of the police to transfer the SHO Bijarani from the Kunri Police Station for his having taken personal interest in the rape and murder case. Before the medical report was issued, the SHO was transferred. A lady doctor was called in the late hours to conduct the autopsy, and she was seen shivering at the time when hospital authorities instructed her to conduct the process.
The autopsy took more than 48 hours, but it established that Hawa was raped and that she died an unnatural death. To ascertain the DNA of the rapists, tests were not possible as the hospital authorities kept her body parts for four days in open place so that DNA would be destroyed. On the protest of local people, who protesting for fair inquiry in to the case, the authorities sent the body parts to Karachi, 400 kilometers from the Kunri Sub-district. But no results have emerged.
Before reporting for his new duties, the newly appointed SHO, Inspector Tasawar Husain Jat, went straight to the house Mr. Nazar Mohammad Faqir, the influential man whose son is accused by the local people as being the chief perpetrator. Mr. Faqir briefed the SHO and then the SHO started his hunt for the “suspects”.
I am appalled to know that police turning the case on communal base that the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Abdul Qayyum Pitafi, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ali Raza and SHO Jat made up a team and began arresting suspects. Zahir, the Ahmadi, who is the owner of the house where Hawa’s family are tenants was arrested two days before the filing of the police first information report (FIR) and underwent severe torture. The same treatment was meted to 15 other persons, mostly from the Meghwar Community. Hawa’s first cousin and brother in-law were also taken into custody on the instructions of the influential persons from the ruling political party.
Finally, the police arrested two persons: Mr. Zahid from Ahmadi community, to cater to any objections made by Muslims, and Hawa’s Hindu cousin Nirdesh Meghwar. Zahid was not able to walk and even to talk after his torture, whereas Nirdesh was tortured by the SSP himself in Umer Kot. The police have accused Nirdesh of having an illicit relationship with Hawa and that both wanted to marry. Police officials, however, did not know that there was an open chink in their concocted story. Unlike Islam, in Hindu religion, cousins cannot marry, and they are always treated like brother and sisters. When journalists pointed this out to police officials, they claimed that they both wanted to convert to Islam.
Zahid has been shown as arrested in a murder case, because according to police, Zahid wanted to have an illicit relation with the victim girl. Nirdesh has been arrested on the charge of rape. The police have intentionally ignored the fact that Hawa was abducted, gang raped, and murdered on the same day and in the same time frame. The police still have not answered the questioned put forward by journalists who have inquired into the police version of events.
I am also surprised to know that police the senior police officials has said that their method is to first arrest and then start the investigation; first investigating and then arresting the accused persons is a western method according to the police.
Local human rights activists and journalists are worried that the police are trying to instigate the Muslim Community against the Ahmadi Community, who as it is are living in fear of a fresh attack. The Meghwar Hindu community is the poorest and most hapless Community of the country, and following Hawa’s rape and murder the community is under heavy pressure from the government and powerful persons of the area. Members are scared of being implicated in blasphemy cases wherein they will be accused of burning pages of the holy book and scared of their girls being kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam in local madrassas. Nevertheless, some members of the Meghwar Community and human rights activists have been conducting regular protest rallies.
I therefore, call upon you to to conduct a judicial inquiry into the gang rape and alleged murder of a young Hindu girl, Hawa Meghwar, who was also called Hawi and was someone who belonged to the lowest Hindu caste of Meghwar. I also urge you to prosecute the senior police officials of the District Umer Kot and Kunri Sub-District for working on the instructions of influential people and torturing innocent people to get confessional statements. The real culprits of the gang rape and alleged murder must be arrested. The Meghawar community and Ahmadis must be protected.
Thank you,
Yours Sincerely,
……………….
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Mian Nawaz Sharif
Prime Minister
Prime Minister House
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1596
Tel: +92 51 920 6111
E-mail: secretary@cabinet.gov.pk, pspm@pmsectt.gov.pk
2. Mr. Syed Qaim Ali Shah
Chief Minister of Sindh
The Government of Sindh Province
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 920 2000
Email: pressecy@cmsindh.gov.pk
3. Mr. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan
Minister
Ministry of Interior of Pakistan
R Block, Pak Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 51 9212026
Fax: +92 51 9202624
Email: interior.complaintcell@gmail.com, ministry.interior@gmail.com
4. Mr. Sohail Anwar Khan Siyal
Minister for Home
Government of Sindh
Barrack 79, Pakistan Secretariat
Near MPA hostel
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9204456
Tel: +92 21 9201920-1
E-mail: secy.home@sindh.gov.pk
5.Mr. Tahir Shahbaz
Registrar
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Constitution Avenue, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 9213452
Email: mail@supremecourt.gov.pk
6. Chief Justice of Sindh High Court
High Court Building
Saddar, Karachi
Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9213220
E-mail: info@sindhhighcourt.gov.pk
7. Justice (Rtd) MajidaRazvi
Chairperson, Human Rights Development
Government of Sindh
Barrack number 92 Sindh Secretariat
4. B, opposite to Sindh Assembly Building
Karachi
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 21 99207042-43
Fax: +92 21 99207044
E-mail: ministerhrd@sindh.gov.pk
8. Mr. Ghulam Haider Jamali
Inspector General of Police, Sindh province
Police Head quarter I.I Chundigar road
Karachi-PAKISTAN
Fax-+92-21-99212051
complaints@pprasindh.gov.pk
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
