Police claimed on Wednesday to have arrested two suspects accused of kidnapping and raping a 10-year-old homeless girl in Karachi’s Clifton area on Sunday last week.

The girl hailed from Shikarpur and was dwelling with her family on a footpath near Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine in Karachi before the crime was reported on Sunday.

Confirming arrests in the case, South Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn.com that the suspects were caught with the help of CCTV footage, which was used to identify the vehicle used by the suspects.

Police identified a vehicle using the CCTV footage and got its sketch made, he said, adding that they then “physically checked all vehicles of the same colour and make”.

The SSP said the vehicle, a white Suzuki Alto, was registered in the name of a Ghotki resident, but he had sold it to a resident of Karachi. “So it took police considerable time to identify the present user [of the car].”

He also clarified that the girl’s family was not particularly displaced by recent floods, as was believed earlier. “The family is of seasonal beggars. They regularly visit Karachi and were also here last Ramazan.”

SSP Raza also emphasised that such crimes highlight the need for the Safe City camera network, which had an in-built system for automatic number plate recognition.

Interrogation report

According to South police’s interrogation report, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, one of the suspect revealed that he had gone to a bathhouse in Clifton’s Neelam Colony on Sunday around noon in his employer’s car — a white Alto bearing registration number BVU-955.

There, the report quoted him as saying, he received a call from the second suspect who enquired about his location and later reached the spot on his motorcycle.

The report said both suspects then went to Imtiaz Super Market — which was situated nearby — in their respective vehicles. Upon reaching there, the second suspect parked his motorcycle and moved to the passenger seat of the car being driven by the first suspect.

“A girl, aged between 15 or 16, approached us,” the first suspect told the police, adding that his companion spoke with the girl in Sindhi and asked her to get in the car so he could buy her ration.

The girl took the backseat of the car, which had shaded glasses, the report said. It added that a while later, the second suspect moved to the rear side of the vehicle as well and asked the first suspect to drive to Defence Housing Authority Phase-VIII.

The first suspect revealed to police that while on the way, his companion “took the girl’s consent for the immoral act” in exchange for money and committed the act. The second suspect then shifted back to the passenger seat in the front, the report quoted him as saying, adding that the girl, meanwhile, continued to demand money.

He told police his companion said he had given her Rs2,000 and that the girl was asking for the “‘remaining amount’”. The first suspect said that while returning to Imtiaz Super Market, they stopped in Muslim Commercial Area to buy juice boxes.

“She told us that she was from Larkana and insisted that she be paid the remaining amount,” the report quoted the suspect as saying. However, he added, his companion told her that he would pay the remaining amount in a day or two.

The report said the suspects dropped the girl at Imtiaz Super Market and went to a nearby eatery in their respective vehicles.

He added that he had been working as a Careem driver for three years and left the eatery after he got a ride.

In a statement issued later in the day, Careem condemned the incident. “Despite the fact that it did not occur in a Careem ride, we are offering to assist law enforcement authorities in any way we can to expedite their investigation and bring the perpetrators of these heinous acts to justice,” it said.

“To safeguard our customers, Careem conducts thorough criminal background checks for all the Captains onboarded on our platform, and maintains a zero tolerance policy for violence or harassment,” the ride-hailing service added.

The FIR

Boat Basin police had registered a first information report (FIR) against the suspects under sections 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of 14), 376 (punishment for rape) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code by the girl’s mother.

The complainant, in a statement to the police, said that she hailed from the Shikarpur district. She said she was a widow and because of the recent floods had come to Karachi along with her six children to earn a livelihood.

“We live on the footpath in the Shah Rasool Colony, the girl’s mother said, adding that she had been feeding her children from a langar (soup kitchen) near Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine,” she said.

The complainant told the police that her daughter was outside Dolmen Mall Clifton on Sunday afternoon. “When she came back at around 2pm, there were blood stains on her clothes.

“On being asked, the girl told her mother that two persons traveling in a car abducted her and subjected her to criminal assault at an unknown place,” the FIR added.

Separately, Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed had said the 10-year-old girl was brought to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre by her mother in a serious condition at 6:30pm the same day.

She was examined by a female medico-legal officer at the National Institute of Child Health.

“The examination revealed violent vaginal rape and physical injuries,” she said.

Later, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah took notice of the incident and sought a detailed report from the Karachi commissioner. He also ordered the suspects’ arrest and directed Sindh Minister for Social Welfare Shehlaz Raza to take the girl and her brother into protection immediately.