MULTAN: The police have registered a case against 17 people who allegedly violated the vani law, on the vani girl’s complaint. The first-ever case has been registered, but no arrests have been made yet. “We have instituted a case against the punchayat (local jury) and parents of the groom under the anti-vani law and police are conducting raids to arrest the culprits,” Multan District Police Officer (DPO) Munir Ahmed Chishti said. The DPO said that Muhammad Rashid kidnapped a girl, Shaheen, daughter of Muhammad Akhtar, and married her in November 2004. He said the police arrested Rashid under an Islamic law for kidnapping and raping the girl. He said that later, a punchayat consisting of Chaudhry Ghulam Sarwar, Chaudhry Muhammad Salim and others summoned the families of Rashid and Shaheen and decided that the girl’s father would withdraw the case against Rashid and in return Rashid would give his younger sister Shazia to Shaheen’s brother Jamshed. As per the punchayat’s decision, Shazia was married to Jamshed, but Rashid was not released from jail after six months, since Shaheen’s father did not withdraw the case against him.