Abducted girl murdered in Khanewal

Police officials suspended after protesting locals block rail traffic

KHANEWAL:

A four-year-old girl was allegedly abducted four days ago and murdered in Khanewal.

The body was found in a sack in fields. The incident was allegedly reported to the police four days ago but they did not register a report.

The deputy superintendent of police and SHO of the area were suspended after Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar took notice of the incident.

According to sources, the four-year-old child was playing with other minor girls in Azizabad, a suburban locality of Khanewal, when she was abducted by an unknown person four days ago.

The slain girl’s father Nadeem reported the incident to Kahna police the same day but her mutilated body was found in a sack in fields near Basti Azizabad four days later.

Enraged local people blocked the railway tracks and Jahanian bypass road by setting fires, blocked the rail traffic coming from Karachi.

Dozens of men and women staged a sit-in on the tracks and chanted slogans against alleged police negligence.

The heirs and residents of the area alleged that the police’s help had been sought four days ago and if they had visited the area for investigation, this tragic incident might not have happened.

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However, when Chief Minister Buzdar took notice of the incident, the IG Punjab suspended Sadar DSP Malik Ijaz for not registering the case for three days and asked him to report in Lahore. He also suspended SHO Zulfiqar Olakh.

Multan Regional Police Officer Syed Khurram Ali visited the area and met the family of the girl.

A large number of citizens, including the parents, demanded action against the local police officials and an inquiry into the case.

Last year in November, an influential landlord allegedly raped and murdered a minor girl in Sargodha district.

According to the police, the heinous crime took place in the suburbs of Bhalwal, from where the body of the eight-year-old girl was found.

Police sent the body to the Civil Hospital for medical examination to ascertain her condition before she was killed.

A case has been registered but it was not confirmed that whether the landlord was named in the first information report (FIR).

Two more separate incidents of child sexual abuse were reported from different parts of Punjab.

A five-year-old boy was allegedly subjected to sexual abuse in Faisalabad’s Pathanwala neighbourhood, according to police officials. The suspect managed to flee after sexually abusing the minor, they said.

The police said they have registered a first information report (FIR) against the accused.

In another incident, a seven-year-old boy was subjected to sexual abuse in Lahore’s Shahdra locality. Suspect was arrested after an FIR of the incident registered, police said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan last week announced that the PTI-led federal government is going to introduce a “stringent” and “holistic” ordinance to plug the loophole in the country’s existing laws against sexual abuse and rape.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2021.