Islamabad: Five teenaged girls from the same family were gang raped by two landlords and their aides in Pakistan’s Punjab province after a relative of the girls asked a landlord to pay him his wages, according to media reports on Tuesday.
Landlords Mara Jat and Zaheer Jat and their aides tied up labourer Mohammad Boota and his wife and raped the girls, aged between 13 and 18 years, at Kitro in Sheikhupura district on Monday.
Members of Boota’s family told the media that the girls were abducted by the landlords and taken into the fields, where they were gang raped. All the girls were unmarried, police officials said.
The incident occurred after Boota, who had moved to Kitro two weeks ago to work in the fields, demanded his salary from the landlords who had employed him.
The landlords and their aides warned him of dire consequences, The Express Tribune reported.
Police have filed an FIR, which quoted Boota as saying that he and his wife managed to free themselves and went to search for the girls.
They found the girls in a field while the landlords and their aides managed to escape.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited Boota’s residence and directed police to immediately arrest all the accused.
He presented cheques to the victim’s family and assured them that the accused would be brought to justice.
Police officer Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal said an initial medical report had confirmed that the girls were raped.
A case has been registered against eight men and three men have been been arrested, he said. (PTI)