Toddler raped, strangled in Karachi

Published February 3, 2015
— File photo
— File photo

KARACHI: A one-and-a-half-year-old girl was raped before being strangled to death in Karachi, her autopsy report revealed on Tuesday.

The minor's body was recovered from Nazimabad's Jalalabad area within the remits of the Rizvia Police Station, however, it is not yet clear where the rape and murder took place.

Speaking to Dawn, Additional Police Surgeon Dr Rohina Hasan, who conducted the minor's autopsy, said she was subjected to sodomy.

Liaquatabad Superintendent of Police (SP) Tahir Noorani said the family members of the victim claim that her body was found in a street outside her home. The police later recovered the body from her residence.

Further investigation into the matter is under way, with authorities on the hunt to nab the perpetrator.

Last year in November, a six-year-old girl was strangled and dumped near a garbage heap in Quetta after being subjected to rape attempts.

Read more: Six-year-old Hazara girl murdered in Quetta after attempted rape

In November last year, a five-year-old girl was allegedly raped at a high school in Lahore.

In Sept 2013, a five-year-old girl in Lahore was repeatedly raped for more than a hour and thrown outside the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. The incident had shocked the nation and was widely condemned.

Rape is notoriously difficult to prosecute in Pakistan, where women are often treated as second-class citizens.

In April 2011, the Supreme Court had upheld the acquittal of five men sentenced to death in Pakistan's most famous rape case, that of Mukhtar Mai.

Mai was gang raped in 2002 on the orders of a village council as punishment, after her brother, who was aged just 12 at the time, was accused of having illicit relations with a woman from a rival clan.

A local court had sentenced six men to death, but a higher court acquitted five of them in March 2005, and commuted the sentence for the main accused, Abdul Khaliq, to life imprisonment.

Take a look: Pakistan’s Hidden Shame: Documentary reveals horrors of pedophilia in K-P

Opinion

Editorial

Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.
Concerning measures
Updated 03 Nov, 2024

Concerning measures

The govt must seek political input and consensus on the changes it is seeking to make and be open about its intentions.
Short-lived relief?
03 Nov, 2024

Short-lived relief?

POLICYMAKERS must be jumping with joy. At the close of the first quarter of FY25, the budget posted a consolidated...
Brisk spread
03 Nov, 2024

Brisk spread

THE surge in polio cases has reached distressing levels with a tally of 45 last reported, after two cases emerged in...