KARACHI: Three suspects, including two brothers, are on the run in Karachi after raping a 13-year-old girl.
Police said Waseem Karam Ali, his brother Ismail and their cousin Afnan Zaman lured the teenager, a resident of Machhar Colony, to an abandoned residential plot and then raped her.
The rape survivor told police she was playing outside her house when the three men approached her and gave her Rs50 to buy sweets for herself. “They took me to an abandoned place where they assaulted me,” she said in her statement recorded with police. “They fled when I raised hue and cry.”
Doctors at Civil Hospital Karachi, where the girl was taken for an examination, have reserved the medical report. Samples have also been sent for laboratory tests.
The family claimed the girl – a student of Class III – was assaulted three days ago and police had failed to arrest the alleged rapists. The girl’s mother demanded the suspects be hanged to set an example. “We want justice. The culprits must be arrested and hanged till death publicly to teach a lesson to others,” she said. “The authorities should take necessary action and force police to work with sincerity.”
Docks SHO Amin Marri said police had registered an FIR on the complaint of the family and started investigations. The girl’s father works at a private firm.
Investigation Officer Ameer Buksh said the suspects nominated in the FIR were relatives of the girl’s family and lived in the same neighbourhood.
He added police were waiting for the medical confirmation whether or not the girl had been raped as the FIR was registered on the claim of the family.
Police have also taken the suspects’ fathers into custody to pressure them into surrendering.
Several cases of gang-rapes of minors in Pakistan, particularly Karachi, have been reported over the years where usually the suspects are neighbours or relatives of the victims, who are often killed.
On June 8, another minor girl was assaulted in Hyderabad by her 16-year-old relative, who was arrested after the victim’s parents reported the incident to police. The boy had lured the minor to the rooftop of a house and assaulted her.
On May 28, a girl was killed in mysterious circumstances after she allegedly fell off a roof in Sohrab Goth. A hospital official had voiced concerns the girl had been raped and an inquiry was ordered to confirm the assault.
