Another gang rape in Karachi

KARACHI: Karachi has witnessed an increasing number of incidents of rape, attempt to rape, sexual assault, gang rape or murder after rape in the recent days.

In the latest incident of an apparent gang rape, a 22-year-old girl has claimed that she was kidnapped from the upscale Clifton neighbourhood on Monday night in a black Vigo and was repeatedly raped by two men. The victim is a resident of District South of Karachi and worked for a private organisation.

Initially, it was reported in the media that the young woman was found unconscious in the Clifton locality on Tuesday morning after she was repeatedly raped throughout the night after her abduction on Monday night; however, police said that the young woman was picked up at around 9:30pm on Monday night and then dropped at around 11:30pm the same night.

The police were informed through Police Helpline 15 on Tuesday afternoon in which the victim’s sister narrated the ordeal of the victim.

The police then recorded the statement of the woman and initiated further investigations. They took her to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center for medical examination as well as for collection of DNA samples. The police investigators also visited the spots from where the victim was picked up and dropped and collected the evidence as well as recording statements of the people.

“The men on a black Vigo took me to the third floor of a building and raped me after picking me from near the Abdullah Shah Ghazi's shrine,” a senior police officer while quoting the victim’s statement said. “Then they dropped me outside the mall in Clifton.”

The officer, while quoting the victim, further said that while dropping her, one of the two suspects also gave her a cell phone number, offering her to hire her on Rs30,000 if she needed a job. Following the incident, the police investigators have initiated further investigations. “It is too early to conclude anything. We are working on the victim’s version,” said South Zone police chief DIG Javed Akbar Riaz while talking to The News. “We have identified the suspects. We have deployed our resources to arrest the suspects and to pursue the investigation on merit.”

DIG Riaz said that the police were taking such incidents very seriously and also attached women officers to the case due to its sensitivity. "We have also formed special raiding teams for the arrest of the suspects,” the officer said. “Her medical examination has also been conducted and DNA samples have also been collected and the police investigators are now waiting for the reports.”

The police investigators were also recording the statements of witnesses to get help in probing the incident. “We have met the victim and her medical test has also been conducted,” Clifton ASP Zahida Perveen told The News. “We are also trying to obtain the CCTV footage from both the spots – from where she was picked and dropped,” the officer said. Police said that a case had been registered while further investigation was underway.

This was not the first incident to have occurred in the Karachi city as earlier, the body of five-year-old girl Marwa was found from a trash can in a park on September 6. It had multiple torture marks and was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. Her autopsy reports revealed that she had been raped. The girl was hit with a heavy object on the head multiple times which resulted in her death.

Also on September 15, in a ghastly incident, two men sexually assaulted a disabled married woman in a slum area of Karachi. According to reports, the disabled woman was alone in her hut in Baldia Town’s Qaimkhani Colony when two men entered her abode and sexually assaulted her. As the victim raised hue and cry, a score of neighbouring people came to her rescue.