A Court In Pakistan Releases A Rapist

A Pakistan court freed a rapist after he married his victim in a settlement brokered by a council of elders in the northwest of the country, his lawyer said.

A lower court in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province's Buner district sentenced Dawlat Khan, 25, to life in jail in May for raping a deaf lady.

Rights campaigners are incensed by the judgment because they believe it legitimizes sexual abuse against women in a nation where most rapes go unreported.

"The rapist and the victim are from the same extended family," Amjad Ali, Khan's lawyer, told AFP" both families have patched up after an agreement was reached with the help of local jirga (traditional council)," he added.

He was freed from jail on Monday after the Peshawar High Court approved a settlement reached outside of court by the family of the rape victim.

The decision, according to the Pakistani Human Rights Commission, "appalled" them.

The group tweeted, "Rape is a non-compoundable offence that cannot be rectified through a flimsy 'compromise' marriage."

After his unmarried victim gave birth to a kid earlier this year, Khan was apprehended after a paternity test revealed he was the child's biological father.

Since women are frequently treated as second-class citizens in Pakistan, rape cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute.

Jirgas or panchayats, local elder-led village councils in rural Pakistan, bypass the legal system even though their rulings have no legal weight.