Policemen stand guard at a check point on a street in Karachi. — Photo by AFP

KARACHI: A seven-year-old girl, who had gone missing a day earlier near her home in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, was found raped and murdered in a locality graveyard on Monday, police said.

They said that the girl went missing on Sunday evening while playing outside her house in Husain Hazara Goth in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

Her family kept looking for her during the night and informed the police about her disappearance on Monday morning.

The girl’s body was found in a graveyard near Kamran Chowrangi, the police said, adding that killers had strangled her.

The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a post-mortem examination.

Dr Rohaina Hasan, the woman medico-legal officer at the JPMC, said that the girl, aged between six and seven years, had been subjected to rape. “Apparently she tried to put up resistance, as she had bruises on her hand and other parts of her body,” the WMLO told Dawn.

The victim girl studied at a Madressah. She was a daughter of a rickshaw driver.

He lodged a case (FIR 127/12) under Sections 363 (punishment for kidnapping), 302 (premeditated murder), 376 (punishment of rape) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code with the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station.

“We are taking the incident very seriously…we have talked to the family but so far they have not showed any suspicion about anyone,” said DIG East Tahir Naveed.

In response to a query about similar incidents taking place in the past, the DIG said that the police were also investigating whether or not a single person or gang was involved.

Earlier, on January 11, a five-year-old girl, also a resident of Husain Hazara Goth, was kidnapped while playing outside her home. A day later she was found strangled in Sikandar Goth within the remit of the Sachal police station. A post-mortem examination confirmed that the little girl was subjected to rape.

The police have yet to solve this case, as those involved in the rape and murder of the girl are still at large.

In yet another incident, the body of a five- or six-year-old girl was found within the remit of the Pirabad police station in the last week of February. The post-mortem examination confirmed that she was subjected to rape before being strangled.

The police are still clueless about the culprits involved in the case.

Also on Dec 15, 2011, an eight-year-old girl was found raped and strangled on a vacant plot in Gulistan-i-Jauhar opposite Shaikh Zayaid Islamic Centre of Karachi University. The girl had gone missing from outside her house within the remit of the Jauharabad police station on Dec 12.

Later, the police claimed to have arrested two men on charges of killing and raping the little girl.

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