The arrest of members of a Pakistani village council over the ‘revenge rape’ of a teenage girl has been widely welcomed.

Police said at least 20 people from the village of in Multan were held following reports that they ordered the rape of a girl whose brother was alleged to have raped another girl, aged 12.

Police spokesperson Allah Baksh told AFP that family members of the two girls, believed to be related, together took the decision to oversee the revenge rape. 

Subsequently, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported that the village council summoned the sister of the accused and ordered the complainant to rape her in the presence of members of the public, including her parents.

Police said the mothers of the two girls later reported the incident to their local police station, which confirmed the assaults after medical exams were carried out.

Although Pakistanis have expressed outraged over the incident, Metro Éireann understands that this is not the first time a village council, or jirga, has made such a ruling. 

Back in 2002, then 28-year-old Mukhtar Mai was gang-raped on the orders of a jirga following an allegation that her 12-year-old brother had a sexual relationship with an older woman. Efforts by Mai to gain justice failed following the decision of the country’s Supreme Court to overturn the gang’s convictions.

We call on the Pakistani authorities to set a stronger example against such evils in their midst.

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