September 14, 2008	Sunday	Ramazan 13, 1429

HYDERABAD, Sept 13: A teenaged girl was sent to a women’s centre on Friday night after she approached media with a complaint that her father had been abusing her for the past few years.

The father was arrested by police after the intervention of Sindh Women’s Development Minister Tauqir Fatima Bhutto.

The girl summoned the courage to leave her house for the press club on Friday evening.

Talking to journalists, the girl said her mother “knew all about my father’s wickedness”. She is the eldest child of her parents.

She said her father’s depravity had been going on since she turned 12. “So when I get fed up I left the house in a rickshaw. I didn’t know the location of the press club and sought help of a rickshaw driver.”

The teenager said her mother had sent her to the home of a paternal uncle a few months ago. She returned to her own home a few weeks ago.

Some journalists tracked down the father and the uncle and brought them to the press club. One of the journalists was outraged and slapped the former when he meekly said: “I committed a mistake and promise not to do this again. My daughter should be allowed to go with me.”

However, Sindh Women’s Development Minister Tauqir Fatima Bhutto intervened in the matter, ordering the head of the women’s crisis centre to take the girl under her care.

Police later arrested the father.