Mukhtaran Mai lives with the fear of retaliation…
It was an incident that shook the world with protest and hatred towards the brutality, inhumanity of the Pakistani village council. Mai had to pay the price for her brother’s ‘illicit’ love-affair with a woman of the same village where they lived. The woman belonged to a rival clan that was the only point of objection. Her brother should be punished. So, the village council decided to give such a verdict, so that nobody ever dares to do the same thing. Some of the men belonging to Mai’s rival group decided to rape the sister instead to establish an instance for ‘an eye for an eye’. Ironically enough, later the ‘crime’ committed by the brother proved wrong, but he was sodomized by the men of the rival gang. The sister too was not spared. How could she be, being such a beautiful young woman?
On June 22, 2002, several men from that village council belonging to Lahore district forcibly dragged Mai in the assembly arranged by the council. Thereafter the ‘punishment’ was decided, and the leader of the rival clan dragged Mai inside a nearby stable, where she was gang raped for an hour or two by those men. Thereafter, she was pushed outside of the stable, wearing only a torn shirt and was forced to roam around the whole village, fully naked…
Her father came and covered her with a shawl and brought the tortured, bruised, traumatized daughter back home. Later, under the inspirations of a local Moulana, and a journalist, Mai and her family lodged a complaint with the police. Pakistani policemen came to the village and arrested the rapists. Mai’s clothes were produced as the evidence to the lower court, where semen strains of at least 2 men were found. A lower court of Lahore sentenced each of the 6 men to death and acquitted 8 others, which was later condemned by the Supreme Court.
But, the fuss began with the sentence given by Lahore High Court. It claimed that Mai couldn’t see the faces of the rapists clearly due to the lack of electricity in the village. Therefore, 5 of the convicts were acquitted and one of them was sentenced to life imprisonment. Everybody was surprised to see the commuting of the sentence, but that was of no use. Pakistan Supreme Court, although suspended the order and retried all of the men, upheld the sentence of the high court on April 21, 2011. Mai’s movement had been restricted by the government during the trial and her passport was also confiscated.
Mai now runs 2 girl’s schools in her village to educate the Pakistani women with the help from all over the world. She also established an organization named ‘Mukhtaran Mai Women’s Welfare Organization’ and proved herself as a staunch advocate of women’s rights. Her autobiography has been listed as the number 3 bestseller in France. She was also honoured by the ‘Glamour’ magazine as the ‘Glamour Woman of the year’ in 2005.
But, behind the success, lies the fear of retaliation. What, if ‘they’ come and avenge the price they had to pay by serving behind the bar? This is the ‘gift’ Mai has got in the name of ‘justice’ from the government of Pakistan and the judiciary.
What a mockery!
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