An eight-year-old girl with mental disabilities succumbed to her wounds at the Jinnah Hospital after being burnt alive and allegedly raped in Chichawatni.
On April 8, the minor had left her house to buy sweets from a nearby shop. After she failed to return home, her parents and neighbours started looking for her. Three hours later, the girl was found allegedly raped and burnt by unidentified men in Ward 17 of Mohammadabad area of Chichawatni.
The minor was taken to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital where doctors said over 80 per cent of her body had been burnt. She was later shifted to the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore where she succumbed to her wounds.
District Police Officer (DPO) Sahiwal, Mohammad Atif Akram told media that the postmortem report had evidence of sexual assault, adding that samples taken from the child had been sent to the forensic laboratory for further testing.
According to the police, a case has been registered against a suspect who resides in the same neighbourhood as the minor. However, the first information report (FIR) does not include rape charges.
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, responding to the ill-fated minor’s parents’ plea for justice, has taken notice of the incident and summoned a report from Inspector General Police Punjab.
The incident led to protests in Chichawatni’s Ward 17, where outraged residents took to the streets demanding justice for the minor. All business centres and shops were closed, bringing commercial activity to a halt.
Earlier this year, the rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab in Kasur left the entire nation in shock, leading to an increase in the number of sexual cases being reported.
Zainab’s case gained international attention after the issue was raised on social media with #JusticeforZainab being the top trend in the country.
Her killer was caught and sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court weeks later.
