It’s been 15 years. But Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani rights activist (in picture), is still haunted by the memories of a local panchayat ruling in Meerwala village of southern Punjab that allowed her to be gang-raped for “honour revenge”. Unlike many others, Ms. Mai filed a complaint and moved the court. Most of the accused were acquitted in 2011, and an undeterred Ms. Mai became a symbol of women’s resistance in Pakistan. Two weeks ago, another revenge rape case jolted the country. A 16-year-old girl was raped in Muzaffarabad village near Multan upon the orders of a village council because the victim’s brother had allegedly sexually assaulted another girl. “The incident has reopened my wounds. This has happened because justice was not served in my case and panchayats continue to function with impunity,” Ms. Mai said.

According to police, 29 people gathered in a compound in the village around midnight on July 14 to “settle” the first sexual assault. The panchayat ruled that the suspect’s sister would be raped as punishment. A case registered with the police states that the mother of the teenage victim offered one of her married daughters to settle the issue, but the panchayat demanded that she hand over the unmarried teenage daughter. They even wrote a written agreement stating that the matter has been settled following the panchayat ruling.

Four days later, the victim’s mother approached the Violence against Women Centre in Multan for help. In the next few days, the police arrested all 29 accused. Salman Sufi, who introduced the legislation against torture and rape of women in the Punjab Assembly, said he was supervising the case.

“The incident reflects the dark side of our society,” said Mr. Sufi, who is Director General at Punjab Chief Minister’s Strategic Reforms Unit. “The irony is that women in the two families also approved of the revenge rape. This also goes to prove that whatever legislation we have, these incidents will continue to happen unless the mindset of society changes.” The incident also underscored the problem of violence women in Pakistan are facing. More than 1,000 women and girls are victims of “honour killings” every year in the country, according to Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission. So far this year, 784 cases of violence against women have been registered with the Multan centre alone.

New legislation

Mr. Sufi said the centre was set up in southern Punjab for the very reason that the region witnesses the highest number of violent incidents against women. Pakistan’s Parliament in October last approved anti-honour killing and anti-rape legislation, after years of discussions. Still, conviction in rape cases is the lowest among major crimes. The new laws bar any compromise on “honour killings” and rape incidents. Previously, culprits, if they belonged to the victim’s family, were able to settle the cases. But under the new legislation, the victim’s families can agree only on turning the death sentence into life imprisonment.

Although most High Courts in Pakistan have declared local jirga (village council) rulings as illegal, they continue to occur, mostly in southern Punjab and interior Sindh. In May, a 12-year-old domestic help was gang-raped by seven men in Karachi. A panchayat headed by a local politician at the victim’s village in Sindh settled the case between the families. The accused agreed to pay 1.8 million rupees to the victim’s family. The police later arrested the politician, but he is now out on bail. Since then, not a single hearing of the case has been held. Ms. Mai believes the problem is not the lack of laws but the implementation of the law. “I will continue my struggle to change the mindset. But for now, I feel that 2002 is back when I was raped.”

(Mubashir Zaidi writes for The Hindu and is based in Karachi)