FAISALABAD: A case has been registered with the Chak Jhumra police against unidentified person(s) on charges of subjecting a 13-year-old girl, living at Darul Aman since November, to rape.

Submitting an application with the police, Robina Iqbal Cheema, the child protection officer of the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB), stated police rescued the teenaged girl on Nov 10 and informed the bureau. The next day, the girl was produced before the child protection court, temporarily taken into custody and sent to Darul Aman, as the bureau lacked accommodation facilities for girls.

She said the CPWB team utilised all resources to trace the family of the girl, but in vain.

On Dec 30, she said the Darul Aman superintendent told the bureauthat the girl needed medical examination as she had some health issues. The next day, a court ordered the medical superintendent of the DHQ Hospital to conduct the girl’s medical examination whose report revealed that she was 14-week pregnant, the complainant added.

She claimed that different statements by the girl given to the bureau at various times showed that she had been raped. It seemed someone had kept the girl in illegal detention and raped her, she suspected.

Meanwhile, the Chak Jhumrastation house officer was suspended by City Police Officer Sohail Chaudhry in connection with the case.

However, the police said it did not show any negligence as it informed the CPWB on time due to the safety of the girl. The girl neither complained of any issue to the police nor had any marks of torture or rape. Efforts had been made to trace her family by airing her picture on cable TV channels and the local media, it added.

It further said the girl was unable to tell them anything except her name, which was creating problems for the police to trace the criminals as well as her family.

Ms Cheema told Dawn that the bureau lacked facilities to conduct a medical examination and had to approach the court for permission and then a hospital. She said the girl had not said anything regarding any wrongdoing with her due to which they did not get her medical examination conducted earlier.

She said the government would be approached to make arrangements for a medical examination of every child the bureau took into protective custody.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2021