ISLAMABAD-Hundreds of people hailing from Shahzad Town police station area on Tuesday gathered at Trammri chowk to demand arrest of the culprits behind rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl, Farishta.

On the other hand, SSP (Operations) Islamabad police Waqar ud Din Syed suspended SHO Shahzad Town police station Sub-Inspector Abbas Rana on the charges of ‘poor performance, inefficiency and sheer negligence towards official duties’.

The police took 4 days to register the case, according to the family, rather kept insisting that the victim might have left the home at her own will. The incident took place in Ali Pur in the jurisdiction of Shahzad Town police station on May 15 but the police registered FIR on the application of Gul Nabi, father of the victim, under section 365-B against unknown persons on May 19.

Following the protest, the police claimed to have arrested 3 accused as prime suspects in the case. SSP (Operations) said that the post-mortem had been performed while DNA and forensic results would be waited for.

According to the police, the girl was killed after been allegedly raped. Her body was thrown in the forest after the horrific crime. The girl’s family had reported her having gone missing to the police on May 15 after she had left the house in the evening. The family claimed that it took the police till May 19 to register an FIR and even then a proper search was not launched.

The victim’s family belonged to KP’s Mohmand district and had been residing in the area of Shahzad Town police station. The body was shifted to Polyclinic hospital for post-mortem. DIG (Operations) has assigned the inquiry into the matter to SP Rural Omer Khan.

Earlier in the day, the family members and residents of the area took the body to Trammri Chowk to protest the killing. They blocked the Park Road and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits. Representatives of district administration and local police also reached the spot to negotiate with the protesters. The protesters called off the protest after the authorities assured them that the culprits would be taken to task.

The incident is the latest of a series of such incidents in the limits of the capital city in as many weeks time. A day earlier, Banigala police had arrested 3 persons on the charge of sexually assaulting a woman a month ago in Banigala area.

According to the police, Javed Akhtar, Khaqan alias Kani and Basharat had allegedly sexually assaulted Sana Aslam on April 7 but the case was registered under section 376 of the PPC on May17. The incident took place over a month ago in a house in Banigala. The woman, in her early 30s, is a resident of Rawalpindi. The 3 persons had raped her at gun point and made nude video.

In another case of similar nature, Bhara Kahu police had arrested a man for allegedly raping a two-year-old girl. The incident took place on April 15. The police said that the suspect was from Shangla. In April, a Christian woman was kidnapped, forcibly converted and raped by a Muslim man in Islamabad. According to the reports, Khalid Satti kidnapped the woman, a resident of Islamabad’s Iqbal Town, and forced her to convert from Christianity to Islam in order to marry her. She was mother of three. Another incident took place on May 6 in the limits of Koral police station where an unknown person raped son of one Mariyam Bibi.

Similarly, on May 16, 3 police constables of Rawalpindi police abducted a 22-year-old girl, Rafia Azeem, from Bahria Town Phase-8 and allegedly gang raped her for the next two hours in the rear seat of official police vehicle before dropping her off near her hostel located in Commercial Centre, Satellite Town in Rawalpindi. The 3 Rawalpindi police constables were accompanied by a civilian. They were identified as Constable Naseer, Constable Rashid Minhas, Constable Azeem and civilian Amir Sikandar. All 4 have been arrested. Sudden rise in such incidents is alarming not only for the residents but also the police and authorities as it creates sense of insecurity particularly among female section of the society.