RAWALPINDI: The family members of a nine-year-old girl, who was found murdered after allegedly being sexually assaulted on Monday night, staged a protest by placing her coffin on the main road opposite the Civil Lines police station on Tuesday.

They also blocked traffic on the main road which left the commuters stranded.

However, the protest was called off after senior police officers assured the family that justice would be done as a suspect had already been arrested.

The girl, a student of grade III, went to a nearby shop in Jhanda Chichi to buy sweets at about 6pm on Monday. When she did not return after two hours, her parents and relatives launched a search. The father was told by a neighbour that his daughter was seen going with another girl.

The girl’s father, Mohammad Imran, said in the FIR that he and other family members went to the girl’s house which was locked from outside. The girl who was seen with his daughter was sitting inside. When she opened the door, the uncle and aunt of the missing girl entered the house and found their niece’s shoes outside a room and her body lying under a bed.

“There were biting marks on her face and neck and her trouser was half-stripped with marks of blood,” the victim’s father said in the FIR.

Police said they were investigating the case on different lines. Preliminary medical examination suggested that the girl had been subjected to sexual assault before being killed.

Police have registered a case on the charges of rape and murder and detained Babar Masih, the owner of the house.

The body of the victim was handed over to her parents after a postmortem.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2021