KARACHI, June 25: The Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) has expressed concern over the recent case of sexual assault in which a man raped and tortured two minor girls in the police limits of Sachal.

At a press conference here on Tuesday, Zia Ahmed Awan, the President of the LHRLA, said after the aggrieved family contacted the LHRLA for legal and moral help, it took up the case and was also providing medical help to the victims. It was also pursuing the case in court on behalf of the victims.

He said society should be sensitized about crimes against children as such crimes were on the rise which was evident from the crime figure reported in the press during January to May this year.

He said as many as 580 cases of physical and sexual abuse against children had been reported in the past five months. Out of these, 235 were of murder, which included both boys and girls, 97 of rape, 114 of sodomy and 92 of serious injury. 193 cases of abduction of small girls and 166 of small boys had also been reported from different areas of the country, he added.

Mr Awan said the accused, Raza Khan, sexually abused and tortured two girls, aged nine and five. He used to burn them with cigarettes and cut their skin with knife or dagger.

“One of the girls has been admitted to the gynae ward of Civil Hospital, where LHRLA team observed that the attitude of doctors to such a serious patient was non-serious. The girl is not being provided with even ordinary medicines,” he claimed.

He said one could not help mention that in its recent budget the Sindh government had allocated 480 million rupees for the health sector, showing an increase of around 31 per cent over the previous year’s budget. Though the case was of a serious nature, neither police nor the hospital administration had taken any measure for the security of the girl, he claimed.

According to the girl’s mother, family members and relations of the accused, Raza Khan, had frequently been coming to the hospital and threatening the girl and her family with dire consequences, Mr Awan said.

He said the LHRLA team came to know that Raza Khan was an influential person and trying to influence the investigation of the case.

“When he was arrested, police also recovered a pistol, but in the FIR police have not mentioned the recovery of the pistol. Furthermore, the accused was arrested by the Sachal police, but he is lodged in Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station, which makes the investigation process questionable,” he said.

The maternal grandfather of the girls was also present at the press conference. The case was of a serious nature, but the attitude of police was callous, he claimed.

Mr Awan demanded that the IG Sindh should constitute separate teams to investigate crimes against children and women.

He suggested that the government amend the Anti-terrorism Act of 1997, and cases of sexual abuse be tried by anti-terrorism courts.

The DIG Investigation should take personal interest in this rape and torture case, the LHRLA chief said.

He appealed to the Sindh minister of health to provide medicine for free to victims of sexual abuse and torture.—PPI