Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Thursday took suo motu notice of the alleged rape of an eight-year-old girl before being set alight in Chichawatni.
The CJP directed the Punjab Police inspector general to submit report over the incident within 24 hours.
According to reports quoting the victim’s family, the victim left her home to buy sweets on Sunday. After she did not return for a while, her family and neighbours started searching for her and soon found her in a street, unconscious with most of her body parts burnt.
She was taken to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, from where she was referred to Jinnah Hospital in Lahore due to her critical condition.
According to doctors, she had received 70 to 80 per cent burns. The girl died during treatment late on Monday night.
The alleged rape and murder of the girl had sparked outrage in the area and a full strike was observed on the day of her funeral.
The initial reports emerging from the area had claimed that the girl was sexually assaulted before being set on fire. However, Sahiwal District Police Officer (DPO) Atif Ikram told the media that initial investigation suggested she was neither raped nor murdered.
Rejecting the reports that the girl was found in a deserted house, he said the fireworks the girl bought from the area shop went off and the girl’s clothes caught fire. Some women in the area tried to put out the fire and took the girl to their house, he claimed. They later handed her to her family. The DPO also claimed that the victim was mentally unstable.
He said that on the complaint of the victim’s family, the police had registered a case against unidentified persons under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), whereas rape charges would be added after receiving the forensic report. He vowed to arrest the culprits as soon as possible. Station House Officer Qazi Basit said police were investigating whether the girl was burnt by someone or the fireworks she was carrying caught fire.
Published in Daily Times, April 13th 2018.
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