Pindi sees 124 sexual abuse cases in 2021

Police claim to have arrested 95 per cent of accused involved in sexual assaults on children, women

RAWALPINDI:

A total of 124 cases of sexual abuse against children and women were reported in Rawalpindi during the outgoing year.

According to the data, police arrested 95 per cent of the accused involved in rape abuses and sent them behind bars.

Most accused could not be convicted due to weak investigation or a delay in getting DNA test reports.

According to the police data, children between the age of four and 19 faced sexual abuse during the last year, while 87 cases of sexual violence against women were also registered.

Nineteen-year-old Zainab was raped and killed in the Jhanda Chichi Police Station limits. Police arrested three accused including a woman involved in the tragic murder and sent them to jail.

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a teacher at a madrassa in Pirwadhai. The case is being heard in the courts. A student was raped in a college in Kalar Syedan.

According to police, most of the accused involved in the child abuse cases were close relatives. The Kalar Syedan police also arrested a gang last year for raping minors and sharing their obscene videos on social media.

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The New Town police arrested three members of a gang involved in fleecing innocent people by registering fake cases of abuse against them.

Last year, a case was also registered in Rawalpindi for sexually assaulting a eunuch. The accused were arrested on the identification of the victim.

The highest number of sexual offences was reported in September last year, which stood at 22, police said. The lowest number of rape cases were reported in January and April last year. In January and April, 12 cases were reported.

According to the police data, two mentally and physically paralysed children were also sexually abused last year. In March last year, an 11-year-old boy was sexually abused by his father. The culprit was arrested and sent to jail on the complaint of the victim's mother.

A senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that more and more people came forward to report sexual abuse cases owing to the forthcoming response of the police at large.

He said that earlier, citizens tried to hush up sexual abuse incidents, which emboldened culprits to roam freely after committing the crime. The police officer said that the most dangerous aspect of the increase in the number of rape cases was the fact that videos of the rape cases were uploaded on social media, putting the lives of the victims and their family members at risk.

Police have no system in place to examine mobile footage and videos and photos released on social media and submit them to the courts as evidence. The police have to seek the help of the FIA cybercrime wing to get sexual abuse videos to make it part of challans. Most of the culprits escaped punishment owing to the delay in gathering electronic evidence against sexual abuses.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2022.