SUKKUR: A gang-rape victim, who had been under treatment since the day she and her elderly mother-in-law were subjected to sexual assault after being drugged at their home in Jacobabad on Jan 15, died on Tuesday at a private hospital in Sukkur. The mother-in-law had died a week after the tragic ordeal.

Jacobabad police took the victim’s body into their custody when their relatives were taking it to graveyard for burial and brought it to Jacobabad Civil Hospital for post mortem. It was handed back to heirs afterwards.

Jacobabad SSP Dr Sumair Noor Channa told Dawn that the victims’ family had nominated in the FIR Tehkan alias Takan Golo and four other unidentified men, accusing them of the gang-rape.

He said that police had arrested the major suspect Tehkan who was serving judicial remand in jail. The other suspects had not yet been arrested, said the victims’ relatives.

Victim’s mother-in-law had died a week after she was assaulted by suspects

According to the FIR lodged on a complaint by Akbar Ali Solangi, on Jan 15 Tehkan, who was their relative, and four unidentified men visited his maternal uncle Shabbir’s house when he, his wife, son Niaz, daughter-in-law and other family members were at home. Tehkan handed them a chunk of meat and milk saying these were distributed as alms, and left, he said adding “We gave the meat and the milk to our womenfolk who prepared dinner and drank the milk and soon started falling asleep on cots,” said Solangi.

He continued in the FIR that his cousin Niaz and he did not eat the meat immediately for some reason and went to bed. They were jolted from their sleep at around 10pm by some voices and saw Tehkan sexually assaulting the sleeping women while his accomplices held pistols at them.

“When we tried to rise, the armed men threatened to kill us if we put resistance,” said the complainant and added the suspects fled away after the crime.

He said the elderly victim died a few days after the incident on Jan 22 and her daughter-in-law was taken to Sukkur for treatment where he died on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2023