UMERKOT: An eight-year-old girl was subjected to sexual assault and then thrown at a deserted place by an unidentified suspect in Aadtyo Water village, 10 kilometres from here, on Monday, according to the victim’s relatives.

The girl’s grandmother told Dawn that her granddaughter had gone to a grocery store in the neighbourhood to buy some goodies. When she took longer than usual they went out after her and searched her in and around the locality, finally finding her in unconscious condition in a deserted watercourse, she said.

She said the girl told her parents after she came to that an stranger snatched her off the street when she was coming back home and dragged her to the watercourse, where he subjected her to sexual assault and ruthlessly tortured her when she offered resistance, she said.

The girl was rushed to Umerkot Civil Hospital in a critical condition, where a lady doctor confirmed after preliminary checkup that she had been sexually assaulted. Doctors collected samples and sent them to laboratory for further examination. As the girl’s condition started deteriorating, she was shifted to Hyderabad.

Umerkot police arrived at the hospital and filed a non-cognisable report of the assault.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2021