Pir Jo Goth rape, murder case: Family expresses lack of trust in police probe

Demands judicial inquiry, suspects involvement of an influential person's sons in crime

HYDERABAD:

The family of a minor girl, who was reportedly subjected to rape before being murdered in Khairpur district, has expressed distrust on the police investigation in the case and demanded a judicial inquiry of to bring the culprits to the book.

Speaking to the media at their protest camp in Pir Jo Goth, Khairpur on Sunday, the family also expressed suspicion of the involvement of sons of a local influential person in the crime.

Zameer Hussain Larik, an uncle of the slain girl, said the police had failed to arrest the real killer/killers.

"There has been no headway in the investigation," he said, maintaining that only a judicial inquiry could give justice to the slain child.

The bereaved family also suspects that the sons of a local influential, Syed Zahid Shah Rashdi, could have been involved in the crime.

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"When we went to their village, Hadil Shah, sons of Zahid Shah asked us to search for my missing sister in the agricultural fields. They also asked us not to report the matter to the police," alleged Hijab Larik, the slain girl's sister.

Her uncles gave the same account.

They said the next day they found the girl's body in a banana field. The family believes that the slain girl was killed elsewhere and her body was thrown in the field.

The FIR

The incident's FIR was registered at Pir Jo Goth police station under Sections 302, 376/2, 364-A and 201 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Unidentified persons have been nominated in the FIR.

According to the FIR, the slain girl was subjected to rape and violence as signs of strangulation were found on her neck.

The FIR further states that the girl left her home on January 9, 2020 for Hadal Shah village, where she was employed as a domestic worker. But she did not return home even after two days. On January 11, her family went to her employer's house to enquire about her, but was told that she hadn't come to work for the past three days.

The family said she used to stay back at her employer's house, because of which they did not take her absence seriously at first.

The Khairpur police have collected the DNA samples of more than 250 persons and sent them to the Forensic & Molecular Biology Laboratory for DNA testing at the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2021.