Multan, July 11: A member of the village council that ordered last month's gang rape of an 18-year-old girl as a tribal punishment was detained today after surrendering to police, officials said.

Police say they have detained three alleged rapists in the case and several members of the tribal council that ordered the June 22 rape in Meerwala village in Punjab province. Police spokesman Altaf Chandeio said authorities are still searching for one of the alleged rapists.

Police said the teenager was raped by four men when a tribal council ordered that her family be punished after her 11-year-old brother was seen walking unchaperoned with a girl belonging to a different tribe.

The victim's family was from the Gujar tribe, considered lower-class than the Mastoi tribe to which the girl who walked with the boy belonged. The council was Mastoi, as were the men who carried out the rape. President Pervez Musharraf's government gave the victim's family a cheque for 500 ,000 rupees ($ 8,000) as compensation and said a new school would be built in her name.

The Supreme Court has ordered senior police to give it regular updates on the case. In a hearing today, police said they were almost ready to bring the suspects before the court to be formally charged. Chandio told the associated press that the victim's family was under police protection because of fears they would be harassed by members of the Mastoi tribe still in Meerwala.

Bureau Report