NAROWAL: Begowala police have arrested a suspect after the body of a 13-year-old girl, who had gone missing 10 days ago, was found in a sack with her hands and feet tied up in a field outside Chak Bhala village.

As per the police, the suspect confessed to have strangled the victim during rape attempt.

The locals protested the police negligence, saying that despite the matter being reported to the police 10 days ago, they failed to recover the girl alive, resulting in her murder.

As per the victim’s family, Esha, (13), daughter of Muhammad Ilyas, a resident of Chak Bhala village located on the outskirts of Sambarial Tehsil in Sialkot District, had left her house to fetch milk on December 19. When she did not return home even after more than two hours, the family got worried and started looking for her along with locals, but to no avail.

Locals protest police failure to recover victim alive

On the complaint of the girl’s father, Begowala police registered the first information report (FIR) of the her abduction against unknown persons.

On Wednesday, locals found a sack in a field outside the village and on opening it they found Esha’s dead body warped in a bed sheet, with her hands and feet tied up.

On being informed of the incident, District Police Officer (DPO) Omar Saeed Malik reached the spot along with Begowala police in charge and officials. The police took the body in their custody and started investigation.

According to Khurram Malik, spokesperson of the district police, the DPO formed 10 police teams to trace and arrest the culprit(s).

The spokesperson said the police, after collecting evidence, sealed off Chak Bhala village and launched a house-to-house search operation.

He said during search of 300 houses in the village, the police recovered a bed sheet from a house located near the victim’s that matched the one one in which the dead girl’s body had been warped.

Following the recovery of the bed sheet, he said, the police arrested the resident of the house, Shahid, who during interrogation, confessed to have abducted and later strangled Esha during a rape attempt.

The spokesperson said the police also recovered the bucket the girl was carrying to fetch milk from the suspect’s house.

Meanwhile, the shocked residents of the village criticised the police for failing to act promptly and recover the girl alive. Locals including Saleem and Suleiman Ali asked what the police had been doing for the last 10 days ?

“Had the police made serious efforts earlier, the girl could have been saved,” Saleem pointed out. Holding the police responsible for the girl’s killing, the locals demanded action against the officials who showed apathy towards the victim and her family and neglected their duty.

Begowala police shifted the body to the Sambarial Tehsil Headquarters Hospital for the postmortem examination. Later, after completion of legal work, the body was handed over the victim’s family.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2021