Police arrest man accused of molesting girls in Karachi

SSP says more than 100 objectionable videos also recovered from accused’s phone

KARACHI:

A man accused of molesting dozens of young girls was arrested on Thursday from Karachi’s neighbourhood, Qayyumabad in the remit of Defence Police Station.

The area residents thrashed the man namely Shabbir Ahmed and handed him over to police. They claimed that the accused sexually assaulted young girls of the neighbourhood.

District South Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mahzoor Ali said accused Shabbir Ahmed belongs to Abbottabad and has been living in Karachi since 2016. He is a soft drink vendor and lives in a one-room house in Qayyumabad on rent, said the SSP, adding three cases have been lodged against the accused within a week.

The detained accused told the police in a preliminary investigation that he had raped 60-70 girls of the area, the SSP revealed, adding more than 100 objectionable videos have also been recovered from the accused’s mobile that have been sent for forensic investigation.

Police said they have been tracing the victims through the videos recovered from the accused mobile.

A complainant stated that his two daughters were sexually assaulted by the accused. "My daughters told me that a man, seller of soft drinks, committed immodest act with them," said the complainant. "They also told me that the accused also filmed the act," he added.

The incidents of child abuse are not uncommon in the country as “11 children were abused every day in 2023,” according to the data compiled by Sahil – a non-governmental organization (NGO).

In its “Cruel Numbers 2023” report, the NGO stated that a total of 4,213 child abuse cases (CSA) had been reported from the four provinces as well as the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). The number included reported cases of child sexual abuse, abduction, missing children, and child marriages.

Recently, Hanjarwal police arrested the principal of a private school for allegedly engaging in inappropriate behaviour with an 11-year-old girl student.

The arrest was made following a complaint lodged by the victim's mother. According to SP Dr Muhammad Umar, the suspect had been subjecting the girl to indecent acts for two months.