Two arrested in mosque rape

LAHORE, June 3: The prayer caller of a Gowalmandi mosque and a son of the prayer leader have allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl in the mosque, according to a first information report. However, the Gowalmandi police said the accused had not confessed to committing the crime so far.

“We are dead sure that prayer caller Ayyaz, who holds the keys of the Kalmay Wali Masjid, is directly or indirectly involved in the rape of the girl, who is a resident of Amrat Dhara building,” Abid Majeed, a relative of the girl, told Dawn at the AVH ward of the Mayo Hospital on Tuesday.

According to the FIR lodged by the girl’s father Tariq Mehmood, the victim left her house after Asr prayers to buy pulses from a nearby shop when Ayyaz and prayer leader’s son Ehsaan kidnapped her, took her to the mosque and sexually assaulted her. The plaintiff said that Israr Ahmed and Muhammad Siddique, who were coming from Shalimar Town’s Usman Bazaar to see him (Mehmood), also saw both accused taking the girl to the mosque.

Majeed, who also lives in the same locality, said the Gowalmandi police first took into custody Ayyaz and prayer leader Ghulam Rasool, but released the latter on the guarantee of a doctor. Later, the police took into custody Ghulam Rasool’s son Ehsaan. He said the door of the upper potion of the mosque was found open on the day of the incident and blood stains were visible at the scene.

Mehmood is the father of nine and a mason by profession. His wife is a worker of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

The girl’s mother said she wanted justice. “I will not comment more on the issue as my leader Nawaz Sharif is himself looking into the case. My daughter is not in a condition to talk and doctors have advised her complete rest.”

This is the second case of a minor girlÂ’s rape in the same area over the last eight days.

Last week, a four-year-old girl, resident of Ganda Engine Shed, was raped allegedly by her maternal uncle Zulfiqar and another relative Atif.

Tahir, whose daughter is still in Mayo Hospital’s AVH ward after a sexual attack on her last week, said his daughter was still in trauma.

He said the police had arrested Zulfiqar and Atif, but they had not confessed to committing the crime so far.

Gowalmandi Circle Supervisory Police Officer Malik Ashfar said the police were interrogating the accused involved in both the cases.

An official of Mayo Hospital, asking not to be named, told Dawn that four minor rape victims were brought to the hospital during the last month.
Source: Dawn
Date:6/4/2008