20-year-old girl allegedly raped by friend in Faisalabad

Victim was on way to religious seminary when accused abducted her

FAISALABAD: A 20-year-old girl was subjected to sexual assault by her ‘friend’ in Faisalabad, Express News reported on Thursday.

An official of Samanabad police station said that the victim’s brother, B*, a resident of Nisar Colony, submitted a complaint at the police station. He stated that his sister A* had befriended with Safdarur Rehman, who was also a resident of the same locality.

He added that on the day of the incident, A* was on her way to a religious seminary to take classes when the accused approached her. He maintained the culprit abducted the girl at gunpoint and took her to a local hotel where he allegedly raped her.

He stated that after committing the crime, Safdarur Rehman left the victim near Daccan Park in an injured condition. The victim’s brother said the culprit also threatened his sister of dire consequences if she informed anyone of the incident.

B* said that when he contacted the accused about the matter, he confessed to committing the shameful act and also hurled threats at him.

The victim’s brother demanded that police arrest the culprit and punish him sternly for committing such a heinous act.

The Samanabad police have registered a case under Section 376 against the accused and started investigations.

Earlier, a seven-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in Hafizabad tehsil.

A police official said M* went for tuition to Asad Sohail’s house where the accused allegedly sexually assaulted her and fled the scene.

Later, the police arrested the accused after conducting a raid in Mohalla Taj Pura.

A report compiled by NGO Sahil revealed that in 2017, an average of more than nine children were subjected to sexual violence, nationwide, on a daily basis.

The report paints a distressing portrait of the situation. Statistics presented in the document showed child sexual abuse continued to persist, thus rubbishing government claims of better child protection standards.

Collating cases were reported across in 91 newspapers which revealed 3,445 children had been subjected to sexual violence across the nation in 2017. This represents an annual decrease of 694 cases, the report read.

The number of murders following child abduction and sexual abuse surged over the year, according to the report. Reported incidents recorded a more than 100% rise, increasing from seven in 2016 to 15 in 2017, the document revealed.

Girls formed an overwhelming majority of child sexual abuse victims at 60%. The document also revealed that children between 6 to 10 and 11 to 15 years of age were the most vulnerable to sexual abuse.

*Names withheld to protect identity 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2018.