ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Friday took suo motu notice of the alleged rape and torture of a six-year-old girl in Karachi and directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Sindh, to submit a detailed report within 48 hours.

The girl, a resident of Labour Colony in Korangi 2-1/2, was raped before being dumped in a drain near Korangi Crossing on Thursday evening but the child — with her throat slit and bruises on her body — survived and was rushed to a hospital where she was operated upon on Friday.

“On the basis of clinical examination, we are of the opinion that the girl has been subjected to brutal sexual assault,” said a report prepared by Dr Summaya and Dr Tasleem, two lady medico-legal officers of the Civil Hospital Karachi.

FIR registered; DNA samples collected, two suspects picked up for interrogation

Sources in police said two suspects had been detained in the case following the registration of an FIR, but no concrete evidence about their involvement was found. The police said DNA samples of the girl would be sent to a laboratory in Jamshoro on Saturday. The police investigators, meanwhile, recorded the statement of her father who visited the Civil Hospital Karachi where she was under treatment.

Her father, a mason by profession, told the police that she had been playing outside her home in Labour Colony, Sector 32-A of Korangi 2-1/2 until Thursday noon. However, he said, she went missing afterwards, while he had been away for work. After returning home, he said, he along with his family tried to locate her but failed. He said he later came to know through TV news channels that the girl with stab wounds on her body was found in a drain near Korangi Crossing.

Ibrahim Hyderi police investigation officer Kamal Din told Dawn that the child was rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. She was then referred to the Civil Hospital where doctors confirmed that she had been subjected to criminal assault, he said.

Additional police surgeon at the CHK Dr Qarar Ahmed said there was a ‘deep wound’ on her neck, which was “dangerous to her life”. He said there were also bruises on different parts of her body besides a stab wound on her hand. It appeared that the suspects had left her in the drain, assuming that she had died, he said.

She was operated upon and shifted to the ICU where the two lady medico-legal officers examined her.

The police investigation officer said the family had migrated from India to Ghairolo town of Larkana district from where they had relocated to Karachi some years ago.

According to the IO, the girl was mentally unstable as per the family’s statement.

The Ibrahim Hyderi police registered an FIR (8/2017) under Sections 376 (rape) and 324 (attempt to commit qatl-i-amd) of the Pakistan Penal Code against unidentified suspects, said the police official.

Meanwhile, a senior police officer disclosed that the police detained two persons for interrogation. A male suspect, aged 20, was picked up on the basis of information provided by the rape survivor’s maternal aunt. She told the police investigators that he was their ‘tenant’ who had been living alone for the past one week as his family had gone to Mirpurkhas. The suspect claimed that he was at a snooker club along with his friend on Thursday. The police then detained the individual identified by the first suspect for verification, the officer said. “Both the persons are being interrogated. But nothing concrete has been found so far about their involvement in the incident,” the officer added.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2017