A horrific act: Gang-raped 12-year-old dies in hospital

The rapists attempted to strangle the girl to death.

HYDERABAD: A young girl who was allegedly gang-raped died on Saturday due to throat constriction and bleeding, three days after being raped at a seminary in Badin. An initial medical report established both the rape attempt and the strangulation.

The incident took place in the village of Khushi Muhammad Arain, located in the town of Kadhan. The 12-year-old victim used to go to the seminary to learn how to read the Holy Quran, according to her bereaved father.

A teacher at the seminary, along with three young boys who are said to be in grade 10, are accused in the case.

"Three days before her death, my younger son came home shouting that he had heard my daughter screaming from a room in the madrassah whose doors were locked," said her father, who led a protest along with his daughter's dead body outside the Kadhan police station, told the media. "We found her unconscious when we reached there." The girl's father said that his daughter did not initially inform them of the rape and only complained of severe throat ache for the first two days. "We took her to a private clinic, where she was given medicines for her throat ache."

The victim only told her parents about the rape when her condition deteriorated further on the third day, after which she was taken to the Badin Civil Hospital. However, she succumbed to her injuries before she could receive any medical help.

The victim's father claimed that the accused rapists tried to kill his daughter by strangling her. "They thought she had died when she fell unconscious," he claimed.

The police arrested the seminary teacher as well as the father of the three boys on Saturday. However, an FIR was lodged on Sunday after a Civil Hospital doctor, Dr Farzana Chalgari, issued an initial medical report, according to SHO Gul Sher Qambrani. All the four accused have been nominated under the sections of murder and rape on the complaint of the victim's father. Qambrani also added that the police are conducting raids to apprehend the boys. According to Dr Chalgari, there were marks around the girl's neck, revealing an attempt of strangulation.

However, the arrested teacher told reporters at the police station that he is being falsely implicated. The victim was laid to rest in a graveyard in her village, after a funeral that was attended by thousands.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2014.