HYDERABAD: Adilpur police on Tuesday registered a first information report (FIR) in connection with the alleged gang rape of a teenage girl in Sindh’s Ghotki district, over two weeks after the reported incident occurred.
The FIR, was registered against 5 suspects on the complaint of the girl’s father under Section 376(2) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The said provision states: “When rape is committed by two or more persons in furtherance of common intention of all, each of such persons shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life.”
According to the FIR, the incident took place on May 3 when the girl and her parents were working in the fields of a wadera (land owner).
The FIR stated that the complainant said his daughter was working at a short distance from him when he suddenly heard her screams coming from the landowner’s dera (sitting room).
He further said his wife rushed toward the dera after hearing the cries and found the landowner present along with four other men.
In the FIR, the complainant named three of the individuals involved, while the fourth man, who he alleged was armed with a gun, remains unidentified.
According to the complainant, the landowner and another suspect allegedly instructed one of their workers to remove the girl’s clothes.
“My wife and daughter were pleading, but the armed man held them at gunpoint,” the FIR quoted the complainant as saying.
He alleged that the suspects stripped and gang-raped his daughter, adding that they also threatened to kill him and his family in case they lodged a complaint against them.
Previously, police claimed that there was no truth to the allegation of gang rape.
Women’s rights activist and head of Sindh Suhai Organisation (SSO) Ayesha Dharejo told that the FIR was registered after she approached the Sindh inspector general.
“I was present with the family at the Adilpur police station and got the FIR registered on the complaint of the girl’s father”, Dharejo told.
She said that the girl’s medical examination had also been conducted at the taluka hospital in Ghotki. Police also launched an investigation following the registration of the FIR, she added.
On Monday, the girl and her parents also held a press conference in Sukkur, accusing the landowner and his companions of gang-raping her.
