Five-year-old girl slain after sexual assault

NOWSHERA: A five-year-old girl child was murdered after being subjected to sexual assault and severe torture by unidentified culprits, sources said.

Official sources said Imran Khan, son of Sher Zameen Khan, a resident of Bajaur tribal district presently living in Hamza Rashaka, Kheshgi Payan in the limits of the Risalpur Police Station, reported the gory incident to police. He said his daughter, Seema, 5, went out of her house to play outside. “We launched a search for her when she did not return home by 3 pm in the afternoon,” he added.

The devastated father of the child, who is a mason by profession and lives in a rented house, said local children noticed blood spots near an abandoned poultry farm almost 100 yards away from his house.

He said the search led to recovery of the body of his child from the poultry farm which had been stuffed in a gunnysack. The aggrieved parent said two bold-stained bricks, a dagger and two sharp blades were found lying near the sack. He said the family took the body to the District Headquarters Hospital.

The man said his child body bore several torture marks. “She had been killed so brutally that her body had numerous stab wounds and her face had been defaced,” he said. The father of the slain child said she had been sexually assaulted as well. He said the DHQ staff did not carry out the postmortem on the body and asked the family to take it to the Khyber Medical University in Peshawar. Postmortem was conducted there and the body returned to the family.

District Police Officer Najmul Hasnain said an investigation had been launched into the heinous act by collecting pieces of evidence from the crime scene.

He said geo-fencing had been done as well. The official said the police had constituted a joint investigation team. The postmortem had been conducted and the DNA samples of the victim were dispatched to a forensic laboratory.

The DPO said a case had been registered against the unidentified killers under Section 302 and Child Protection Act. Senior police officials, including Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mardan Range, Sher Akbar Khan, DPO Najmul Hasnain Senior Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Noor Jamal met the family.

The officials assured the father of the child and other family members that police would leave no stone unturned in arresting the culprits and bringing them to justice. The father of the child told the senior cops that he was a poor man and was doing masonry to earn a living for the family.

He said the family lived in a rented house and had no enmity with anyone. The family appealed to the apex court, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, and KP Police Chief Sanaullah Abbasi to provide them justice by identifying and punishing the heartless culprits.

There was a strong anguish and resentment among the residents over the incident. They set a 3-day deadline for the police to arrest the killers or else Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway and GT Road would be closed for traffic if the police failed to act.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Human Rights Commission Director Abid Khan Yousafzai and KP Amn Jirga Chairman Syed Kamal Shah Bacha visited Hamaza Rashaka and met the affected family. They urged the government to bring the culprits to justice.