A man has been arrested in Kashmore, Sindh on Tuesday in relation to the alleged gang-rape of a woman and her 4-year-old daughter, according to police.
The police stated that the man, identified as Rafiq Malak, is one of a group of men that lured the woman into his house under the pretext of offering her a job worth Rs 40,000 at a toll plaza. The First Information Report (FIR) states that the woman was offered the job on 25th October. When she accompanied the group alongside her daughter, she was held captive at Malak’s house, where she was subjected to gang-rape by the group of men.
Later, the men released her and kept her daughter, telling her to bring along another woman to them in exchange for the child. They threatened to murder the daughter in case on non-compliance.
Upon release, the woman approached the Kashmore police station to report the incident. The police arranged a raid at Malak’s house, from where the daughter was recovered. Malak was arrested and an accomplice identified, while other suspects escaped. However, it was discovered that the child had also been gang-raped by the men.
The woman and child were first transferred to Taluka Hospital in Kashmore, but the child has now been transferred to a hospital in Larkana because of her critical condition.
It is reported that the suspect was arrested using a trap by the police.
“Our ASI (assistant sub-inspector) Mohammad Bux Buriro persuaded his wife to talk to the suspect over phone which she did. Then the woman from Karachi and the ASI’s daughter waited in a park in Kashmore where the suspect was scheduled to meet them,” Kashmore Station House Officer (SHO) Akbar Channa told media.
Cases have been registered against the primary suspects under Sections 376 (rape), 344 (wrongful confinement), 420 (cheating and dishonesty) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code. These cases were registered on behalf of the State.
The primary suspect was presented before a Larkana court on Wednesday and remains in police custody. Meanwhile, the police are continuing their search for other accomplices involved in the crime.
The incident, dubbed the “Kashmore Tragedy” on social media, has been widely condemned by politicians and the larger public.
