Nine-year-old girl molested, killed in Nowshera

NOWSHERA: In a gruesome incident, a 9-year-old girl child was killed after being subjected to sexual assault here on Friday.

Shah Saeed, a resident of Nawan Killay in Nowshera Kalan, reported to the police that his 9-year-old daughter, Manahil, was a Grade-III student at a local school. She would go to a seminary in the afternoon to receive religious education, he added.

The man said as per routine, his daughter went to the Madrassa on Thursday but did not return. “We searched for her everywhere. Announcements were made through the masajid loudspeakers but she remained untraceable,” said the aggrieved father in the report registered at the police station.

Shah Saeed said he came to know on Friday morning that Manahil’s body was lying at a graveyard. He said she had been killed by unidentified culprit or culprits after subjecting her to physical torture, adding he had no enmity with anyone.

The body of the slain child was shifted to the Nowshera District Headquarters Hospital for postmortem. Dr Nuzhat carried out the autopsy. In the initial report, the lady doctor said the child had been subjected to sexual assault. She was hit at various parts of the body, throttled and later strangulated to death.

Shock and anger gripped the area as the people came to know about the horrific incident.

Nowshera District Nazim Ashfaq Ahmad Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf District Councillor Nausher Khan and Village Council Nazim Ejaz Khan condemned the incident. They directed Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hameed Khan and District Police Officer Mansoor Aman to find out and arrest the culprits.

The local public representatives requested the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, and Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court, Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth, to take suo moto notice of the incident and order a judicial probe.

They set a week deadline for the police to arrest the culprit(s) or else the people would be forced to come on roads to register anger.

The father of the slain child is a poor mason. He asked the rulers and the judiciary to help him get justice.

Meanwhile, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mardan Range, Muhammad Ali Khan, said the case was highly condemnable and a challenge for the police force.

Talking to the media after chairing a meeting, he said evidence had been collected from the crime scene.

The senior cop said a police team had been constituted. DPO Mansoor Aman would head the team. Other team members will be SP Investigation Syed Iftikhar Ali Shah, ASP Cantt Tassawar Iqbal, DSP Swabi Khalid Khan, DSP Charsadda Basheer Khan, Inspector Nasrullah Khan, Investigation Wing Inspector Shafiullah, SIs Masood Khan, Akhtar Hussain and Sajid Iqbal.

It may be mentioned here that it was the second incident of the kind in the last three days. Earlier, a 3-year-old girl child was assaulted and killed in Abbottabad.