Since 2014: 79 kids abused in capital

Interior Ministry says 100 suspects were arrested in these cases but only four were convicted

ISLAMABAD: At least 79 children were subjected to abuse in the federal capital over the past four years but only four suspects implicated in the cases have been awarded punishments so far.

This was disclosed by the Interior Ministry before the Senate recently. It noted that the Islamabad Police had registered at least 79 cases of child abuse since January 1, 2014, to June 15, 2018.

As many as 100 suspects had been arrested in these cases but only four of these suspects were convicted during this period.

“Total 100 accused people were arrested and sent to judicial custody at Central Jail Adiala, Rawalpindi during the said period. Challans against them have been sent to the courts of competent jurisdiction where they are facing trial. A total of four people were sentenced during the said period,” the interior ministry stated in its written reply to questions posed by Senators.

The ministry further told the upper house of parliament that two incidents of minor girls being raped and killed were reported from the capital since January last year. The first case was of a three and a half-year-old girl who had gone missing from her home in the Jhangi Syedan area on April 7, 2017.

Two days later, her body was found dumped behind her home. Doctors confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted and then strangled.

Police say the case remains unsolved to this day with no suspects arrested.

The other case was the sexual assault and murder of a child in a shanty town near Sector F-11 within the remits of the Golra police in March this year. In this case, the police managed to arrest two men who were accused of the crime and are currently under trial.

To another question, posed by Senator Usman Khan Kakar, the interior ministry said the capital police had registered 171 cases of missing people since 2009.

“Of these, 111 missing people have been recovered, while 60 are still missing,” the ministry’s reply read.

The ministry further said that a total of 16,022 people were arrested across the country, except for in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata) over the past five years (2013-17) for their alleged involvement in terror activities.

Of these, around 2,525 had been convicted of the charge.

From Islamabad, 61 people had been arrested in the past five years for their involvement in terror activities but only two had been convicted of the crime thus far. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2018.