Girl gang-raped

HARIPUR:

A teenage girl was gang-raped in the limits of Motiyan village council, police told The Express Tribune on Tuesday. According to investigating officer, Sub-inspector Syed Shabir Shah, the medical examination of the victim confirmed she had been gang-raped. Law-enforcement officers have picked up three of the four suspects.

Kotnajibullah police quoted 19-year-old Atika*, a resident of Hasan Abdal in Attock, as saying she was waiting for her bus at Mohra Chowk Monday afternoon on her way home. A van stopped near her and the driver asked her to board the vehicle and join “the rest of the passengers”.

According to Atika, as soon as she stepped into the vehicle, the driver turned it towards Haripur instead of Hasan Abdal. She said she tried to make some noise to attract any of the passers-by for help, but one of the men in the van covered her mouth with his hand, forcing her to keep silent.

They drove her to an isolated area in Motiyan village where they took turns to rape her inside the vehicle. She said there were four men, and they left her there.

Atika managed to reach Kotnajibullah police station where she filed a complaint. The police then raided the houses of the suspects, later identified as Abrar, Azeem, Ahsan and Wazir Bacha. Abrar, Azeem and Ahsan were apprehended but Bacha was still at large. The police registered FIR under sections 376 (rape) and 34 (collusion) of the Pakistan Penal Code. Investigation officers produced the three arrested before the court of judicial magistrate Sardar Jawad who gave the suspects into police custody for a day.



Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2016.