Five-year-old recuperates as Punjab police chief submits report in SC. PHOTO: FILE
An outpouring of grief and anger swept the nation following Friday’s ghastly ‘gang rape’ of a five-year-old girl in the Mughalpura neighbourhood of Lahore, with rights activists pressing for the immediate arrest of the perpetrators.
On Saturday, the police announced that they had detained one of the alleged rapists but appeared unsure whether or not he was the principal accused.
Rights campaigners staged noisy protests in several towns and cities and demanded that the perpetrators be awarded the harshest punishment.
The Supreme Court took suo motu notice hours after the shocking incident.
On Saturday, Inspector General Police (IGP) Punjab Khan Baig submitted a report with the registrar of the top court. Officially, few details have been made public. However, sources said IGP Baig told the court that they were studying the footage obtained from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras mounted on the walls of the Sir Gangaram Hospital.
Interestingly, until late Friday the police denied the CCTV footage showed the alleged rapist dumping the girl outside the hospital.
In the report, IGP Baig also told the court that he has formed two teams – one headed by SSP CIA Umer Virk and the other by SP (Investigations) Civil Lines Imtiaz Sarwar – to investigate the appalling incident.
According to SP Civil Lines Maroof Safdar Wahla, a man could be clearly seen in the footage dropping the girl near a wall of the Sir Gangaram Hospital. He refused to share details.
CCPO Lahore Chaudhry Shafeeq Gujjer told the media late Saturday that the man seen in the CCTV footage has been arrested. He identified him as Imran but said that he could not be called the main culprit until the details of the incident were revealed.
The five-year-old is recuperating in Lahore’s Services Hospital. Dr Rehana Malik, the medical superintendent of the hospital, told The Express Tribune that the girl has been successfully operated upon and shifted to the ICU. “She is still in shock, though her condition is stable,” Dr Malik added. “She would need another surgery and counselling to get out of trauma.”
Government officials and politicians visited the hospital to express solidarity with the victim, while rights campaigners and civil society activists staged a protest outside the Punjab Assembly.
The girl went missing Thursday morning while playing outside her house in Ghousia Colony, Mughalpura. On Friday, her parents lodged an FIR against unidentified men at Mughalpura police station for kidnapping and molesting the girl. Medical examination confirmed the rape.
Earlier Saturday, the IGP chaired a meeting at the Central Police Office in Lahore where attendees SSP (Investigation), DIG (Operations) of Lahore, SP CIA and SP (Investigation) Civil Lines. In the meeting, ASI Jameel Khan, the in charge of the Mughalpura police station, was suspended and detained for releasing five suspects who were detained Friday night, though they have been taken into custody since.
Separately, the Harbancepura police detained a teenager for attempted kidnap of his neighbour’s seven-year-old daughter. He was detained when the neighbourhood women raised alarm. The police claimed that Rizwan, 17, confessed that he wanted to kidnap and molest the girl.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 15th, 2013.
COMMENTS (7)
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beat them to they're dead! make sure it is done in front of the entire town.
@Asad Malik: I feel being disgusted as a human being and as a man on this news. I liked your comment that death penalty is the answer. The state may create a fear of death penalty in order to stop the crime rate, but can the death penalty stop the ill-mindedness? I think you know the answer.
@goggi (Lahore): No. Without the death penalty people will not be afraid to commit such heinous crimes. Pseudo-liberal fools like you who want to treat such filth like human beings are the reason we're down in the dumps. Treat this beast like the beast it is and put it down before it goes out and rapes another 5 year old.
Convicted rapists should have their organ removed and the word rapist tattooed on their foreheads.
@Ron Judge: Not the Sinner should be erased rather the Sins!
The one is a sick rapist and you want to kill him................what is the difference!
We need qualified Sociologists, Psychologists, Pedagogues, Medicine men to treat such ill minds from which the whole society is swarming. And certainly not the inhuman third degree punishment of inflicting pain, either physical or mental.
You mean just like with Shahrukh Jatoi?
The death sentence is the answer.