Police in Pakistan say that a village panchayat or council allowed a local landlord to rape the sister and sister-in-law of a man said to be involved in an illicit relationship with his daughter, report agencies.

The landlord, Ghaffar, from the village of Donga Naich, reportedly �abducted and locked the two women, aged 16 and 22, in a room and raped them while Council members waited outside.

Six people, including three council members, have been arrested. �Rape in Pakistan carries a maximum sentence of death. The council members could face prison terms if convicted of abetting rape.

In a similar incident in 2002, in which a woman was gang-raped at the order of a village council as punishment for her brother's sexual relations with another woman, a court convicted and sentenced six men to death.