Seven-year-old girl subjected to sexual assault by maternal cousin

Yet another case of child sexual assault was reported from the city on Thursday where a seven-year-old was raped by her 16-year-old cousin in her house in Qasba Colony, Orangi Town.

According to Peerabad police station SHO Muhammad Urs, the victim told the police that she had gone to visit her grandmother who lived in the same vicinity, but had been sent back home to fetch something.

She added that her maternal cousin Saeed alias Babloo, 16, chased after her when she left and walked to the house with her, but when they went inside, he subjected her to sexual assault and escaped.

The victim was rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital since she was bleeding from the assault and a medico-legal officer examined her there. West-II Investigation SP Zeeshan Siddiqui told The News that the medic-legal officer in her report had confirmed that the girl had been raped.

He added police raided the accused’s house and picked up some of his family members to get their help in tracking him down. SP Siddiqui said police would employ technical assistance as well to reach the suspect and put him behind bars.

Speaking to The News, Initiator Human Development Foundation (IHDF) President Rana Asif Habib said that as per an NGO’s report submitted to the National Assembly’s special committee on child sexual abuse, 17,000 cases of child sexual abuse have been reported from all over the country during last 10 years – from 2007 to 2017.

Quoting the report, Habib said that 10 children fall prey to sexual abuse in Pakistan every day, and 1,764 cases of child sexual abuse were reported from parts of the country in 2017 alone.

He said the number of victims is likely much higher, but people feel hesitation in reporting such cases because of the untoward attitude of police, MLOs and the prosecutor towards the victim and their family.

There is no database on the actual number of children who fall prey to sexual abuse. The NGOs are gathering information about the victims from media and police stations, he said. The complainant had told police that she had married Sajjad two years ago and she and her daughter from her previous husband lived with them.