Mentally-retarded girl assaulted

HARIPUR: A man allegedly raped a mentally retarded minor girl in Khalabat Township, police said on Monday.

One Muhammad Arshad, a resident of Muhallah Darband in Khalabat Township, told the Khalabat Township police that his nine-year-old daughter, who was mentally unsound, was standing outside her home when one Habib-ur-Rahman from the same locality came riding on his motorcycle and took the girl to a deserted place. The accused, according to the police, was drunk and raped her near the old building of Tarbela Cotton Mills. The police said that the accused brought the victim back and left her near her home. The police said that when the girl reached home she was not fully conscious and was bleeding which prompted her mother to take her to the District Headquarters Hospital where the doctor, who examined her medically, confirmed that the girl had been raped. Some eyewitnesses informed the family that they had seen Habib-ur-Rahman picking up the girl. On the complaint of her father, the police registered a case against the accused and arrested him. According to the preliminary medical examination report, the casualty medical officer on duty confirmed that the girl was raped. The accused was produced before the court of a judicial magistrate. The court remanded him in police custody for two days. Meanwhile, the local people staged a protest against the alleged rape of mentally retarded girl and demanded exemplary punishment for the accused.