By: Ghulam Rasool Soomro
CHACHRO: A 14-year-old Hindu girl, N, was raped allegedly by a local leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) early Friday morning near Chachro, Umerkot.
The suspect, M, forcibly entered the victim’s house in Mubarak Tarr village, which is 35 kilometres from Chachro, along with two other men. He tortured the victim’s mother first and then raped the girl, while his accomplices guarded the door.
Since the suspect belongs to an influential family, the victim’s family failed to receive proper shelter. The victim’s father and other community members went to Chachro taluka hospital for a medical checkup, but the doctors refused to carry it out without an FIR. When the father asked the police to file an FIR, they also refused. “We are very poor,” the father said. “It is an injustice against our daughter. We need justice but no one is willing to cooperate.”
After mounting pressure by the journalists, the Chachro police registered an FIR No 61/2012 against the suspect and his two accomplices.
The victim, her father and the rest of her family staged a sit-in outside MNA Mahesh Malhani’s house. The whole family threatened to set itself on fire. There were reports that the accused was trying to convince the victim’s family to withdraw the case. SHO Haider Bux Khaskheli was not available for comments but officials at the police station told daily Sindh Express that they will trace the men nominated in the FIR.
