why women count | Mukhtiar Mai: the struggle for justice | Pakistan

http://www.tve.org In June 2002 Mukhtiar Mai's 14 year old brother Abdul was accused of molesting a woman from a powerful rival clan in rural Punjab. To exact revenge, the clan members sent four armed men who gang raped Mukhtiar Mai. In patriarchal Pakistan violence in the name of honour is widespread, and rape perpetrators are rarely charged. But Mukhtiar, encouraged by her local mullah, lodged a formal complaint with the local police. After her case was taken up by human rights lawyers around the world, she received compensation from the Pakistan government and used it to start a school and woman's welfare centre in her home village.