Unsafe at home: Girls claim to be raped by family members

Police send victims for medical tests, arrest father of one

PESHAWAR: At least two cases of teenaged girls being repeatedly raped by their close relatives, over multiple months, in separate incidents in the province which came to light on Thursday.

In the first case, a man allegedly raped his 16-year-old daughter for three months in the Pano Dheri Village within the remits of the Mansehra City police station.

Nisar, a relative of the girl, told The Express Tribune that the girl’s 35-year-old father was originally an Afghan refugee who had married a Pakistani woman. He used to sell fish on a push cart but had been jobless of late.

“He had initially sold her to an Afghan national and then, to hide his crime, started raping his daughter,” he claimed.

“The victim is his first born and he has two sons and another daughter,” he said, adding that the girl’s mother knew the incident but chose to remain silent.

The girl finally managed to lodge an FIR with the Manshera City police station and was shifted to the Darul Aman.

Nisar added that the police have since recovered the girl’s mother and other siblings and they were being shifted to Peshawar where they will live with a relative.

“The medical examination of the girl has proved rape and DNA samples from her father have been sent to Khyber Medical University for testing,” he said, adding that it was unfortunate the minor had to face such brutalities at the hands of her own father.

Police, after registering an FIR, have arrested the suspected and have started investigations in the case.

Girl claims forced prostitution

In a separate incident, a 14-year-old girl has told the Paharipura police that she and her sister had been forced into prostitution and had been repeatedly raped by multiple men, including her brother and uncle, leaving her pregnant.

The girl lodged an FIR with the police, stating that her mother took her to two different places where she was raped by two different men. Later, she claimed that she had been repeatedly raped by her brother repeatedly and uncle and suspected she had become pregnant as a result of the repeated sexual assaults.

“She told police that she had been raped by her brother and her uncle along with her sister and that they also brought other people to rape them,” a police officer told The Express Tribune, adding that the girls had been sent for medical examination and police were investigating the case.

“The mother of these unfortunate girls is a prostitute herself and is forcing her two daughters [into the oldest profession] with the help of her son and brother,” claimed the official.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2018.