PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) dismissed the appeal of an alleged gang-rape victim against the acquittal of the 13 accused by an Anti-Terrorism Court. A two-member bench comprising Justice Nisar Hussain Khan and Justice Roohul Amin Khan dismissed the appeal of Uzma Ayub, who was allegedly gang-raped, against the acquittal of the accused after hearing arguments from both the parties. An Anti-Terrorism Court on February 1, 2013 acquitted the 13 persons accused of gang-raping Uzma Ayub hailing from the Karak district. Some of the accused included Gul Marjan, Nazar Khan, Hakeem Khan and others. The ATC judge Syed Asghar Ali Shah had stated in the order that the charges against the accused couldn’t be proven. The accused included a station house officer, a sub-inspector, an assistant sub-inspector and an army soldier. Uzma Ayub’s lawyer Surraya Jabeen submitted that according to the first information report lodged by Uzma’s mother, Bilqisam Jana, at Takht-i-Nusrati Police Station, Karak (and Uzma’s own testimony in front of the PHC on October 13, 2011), 13 men kidnapped Uzma and raped her repeatedly during captivity for 11 months. Uzma Ayub was pregnant when she returned home in September 2011. She maintained that her daughter Zeba’s father was one of the 13 men, who had allegedly raped her. The Peshawar High Court (PHC) had taken notice of the case and initiated proceedings. The respondents’ lawyer, Shahid Qayyum, defended the acquittal and stated that Uzma Ayub’s inconclusive polygraph and DNA tests were also conducted to determine the parentage of the infant.
