Rawalpindi: As many as 103 minor children including 27 girls were sexually abused within the jurisdiction of 30 police stations of district Rawalpindi during the last 3 years.
A 10 years old child kidnapped from Sadar Wah police jurisdiction was killed after having been raped. As per record 101 children who were sexually assaulted were either freed by the rapists or they succeeded in escaping on their own.
According to report for the period January 01, 2015 to December 31, 2017, which was sent to Punjab government, not even a single accused could be awarded life imprisonment or was sentenced to death during the aforementioned period. Only 2 out of 140 wanted to be accused were awarded punishment for 2 years in jail.
48 accused were acquitted after the witnesses deviated from their statements. 53 culprits were granted bail due to a poor police investigation and police connivance. 8 accused have not been arrested by police so far. 9 cases are still under investigation. Challans of 91 cases of kidnapping and rape has been sent to courts.
The actual ratio of the rape case of minor children is far higher than the reported cases as most of the people don’t approach police due to police attitude, a judicial system and pressure.
The NGO Sahil termed the 3 years statistics of sexual abuse of children as against the facts. Sahi media coordinator Mumtaz Gauhar told Morning Mail that 2616 children were subjected to sexual assaults in Punjab including Rawalpindi and 167 children were raped in Islamabad during last year.
Among those who were found involved in the offence of rape, 1943 were acquaintances, 829 strangers, 72 relatives, 55 teachers, 54 neighbours, Maulvi, policemen and other persons.
Police refused to register 323 cases while 165 cases could not reach police. No information was provided in 709 cases.
4139 children were raped during 2016, 1764 were raped during the six months period from January 01 to June 30, 2017. Among the victims 697 were girls and 1067 were boys.
12 boys and girls were raped and murdered in district Kasur during 2017.
When contacted City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi, Israr Ahmad Abbasi dispelled the impression of police interference in minor children rape cases saying when a case is registered and the accused is challenged then there can be no interference from the police.
It is our endeavour that such cases are assigned to an expert police officer for investigation so that the accused could not escape.
He said that the requisite results are not received through DNA or chemical examiner report.
Abut delay in DNA or PFSA reports, he said police duty is to send samples and police can only send reminders if the reports are delayed. Punjab Forensic laboratory remains under pressure from the reports which are received from across the country.
About non-recovery of the child who was kidnapped from the area of Wah police on February 28, he said no such incident is in his knowledge wherein the kidnapped child has not been recovered.
Imtiaz Ahmad advocate, senior program officer legal aid of Sahil said this is need of the hour to register cases forthwith against those found involved in sexual abuse of minor girls and their early trial. The statement of the victim is essential for registration of a case. In such cases, police and doctors demonstrate extreme irresponsibility.
Doctors don’t work on the acquired sampled and most of the reports come as negative. Therefore, the case loses its meaning. The SHO of the respective police station should investigate such cases.
The cor's should review minutely the compromise deals or applications seeking dropping/ withdrawal of the cases, he added.