Mukhtaran Mai to seek review of Pak Supreme Court verdict in gangrape case

Lahore, April 24(ANI): The legal counsel for Mukhtaran Mai, a Pakistani victim of a village council-sanctioned gangrape, will file a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict acquitting five men accused of raping his client.

Mai was gangraped on the orders of a village council in 2002 as a punishment because her brother - who was just 12 years old at that time - was judged to have offended the honour of a powerful clan by allegedly having an affair with one of its women.

The Supreme Court acquitted five of the six accused in the Mukhtaran Mai gangrape case on Thursday as it rejected Mai's appeals against the acquittal of her tormentors and for enhancement of their sentence, sparking an international outcry over the acquittals.

In a statement on Saturday, Mai's counsel, Barrister Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, expressed his disappointment at the Supreme Court verdict, and termed the judgment as manifestly flawed and not even based on the evidence available on record.

"In drawing their conclusions, the learned judges disregarded cogent evidence and failed to notice actual material on the record and the facts proved thereby," the Dawn quoted Ahsan, as saying in the statement.

Ahsan, a former SCBA president and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader, also said that the judges had misread the evidence that they had adverted to.

"The judges have also failed to take notice of the social backdrop, which was established on the record itself, and in the context of which the horrendous crime of gang-rape was committed, reported and investigated," he added.

Ahsan maintained that the decision needs to be reviewed and recalled.

"I have consulted Mukhtar Mai, and we have decided that a petition seeking review of the April 21 judgment will be filed soon," he said.

Ahsan also pointed out that the petition would contain a full critique of the judgment, and there was no need for him to make any other comments in the media on the subject.

"We are grateful to the people, the media, civil society and particularly the women of Pakistan for their committed support in this critical hour," he said. (ANI)

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