A 21-year-old girl was kidnapped and allegedly raped in Karachi's Gulshan-i-Hadeed area within the limits of Steel Town police, officials said on Thursday.

SSP Investigation (Malir) Abid Husain Qaimkhani said the girl along with her family members was standing near a park in Phase-II of Gulshan-i-Hadeed on Wednesday at around 7:30pm when three suspects travelling in a car abducted her.

According to the complaint filed by the victim's father, one of the suspects who he claimed is a neighbour raped the girl and the men later abandoned her near her residence in Hadeed.

Read: 'Why is DNA evidence not given weight in Pakistani courts?'

The Steel Town police early on Thursday registered a first information report (161/2018) under Sections 367-A (kidnapping for purpose of subjecting victim to natural lust), 367-B (punishment for gang-rape) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code and arrested two suspects nominated in the complaint. Efforts were underway to arrest the third suspect, police said.

SSP Qaimkhani said the girl’s medical examination was carried out at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) where doctors confirmed that she was raped.

The police also seized the car used during the incident.

Since the beginning of 2018, there has been a marked upsurge in the reporting of sexual abuse cases across Pakistan. The brutal rape and murder of Zainab Ansari in Kasur earlier this year in particular shocked the entire country, with #JusticeforZainab becoming the rallying cry in a nationwide drive to end violence against children.

Opinion

Editorial

Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...
Provincial share
Updated 17 Mar, 2024

Provincial share

PPP has aptly advised Centre to worry about improving its tax collection rather than eying provinces’ share of tax revenues.
X-communication
17 Mar, 2024

X-communication

IT has now been a month since Pakistani authorities decided that the country must be cut off from one of the...
Stateless humanity
17 Mar, 2024

Stateless humanity

THE endless hostility between India and Pakistan has reduced prisoners to mere statistics. Although the two ...