Body of four-year-old girl found in drainage ditch in Kohat
The body of four-year-old Hareem Fatima was discovered in a drainage ditch in the Khattak Colony area of Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on the morning of March 26.
The girl had vanished around three in the afternoon a day prior, and her grandfather had subsequently lodged a missing complaint with the police. According to the deceased’s family, they had searched for the missing girl all through the night to no avail. Her body was eventually discovered in a ditch by a local who was on his way to the market in the early morning.
Hareem’s family staged a protest at the entrance of the KDA Teaching Hospital, alleging negligence by doctors. The protesters claimed that the lady doctors on night-shifts refused to conduct a postmortem examination and asked them to wait for the day-shift doctor, who arrived 45 minutes late to duty. Residents also staged a protest at Bannu Road, and were placated after DIG Tayyab Hafeez Cheema, DPO Sohail Khalid and DC retired Captain Abdur Rehman assured the victim’s family of justice.
A preliminary examination of the corpse revealed sexual assault. However, a final report is still awaited. In the meanwhile, police have arrested thirteen suspects and taken their DNA samples for testing.
Two sisters allegedly raped in Pakpattan
Two sisters from Lahore were allegedly abducted and gang-raped by a group of men in Arifwala while on their way to attend a ceremony while on their way to attend an event in Pakpattan. The abductors reportedly tied both women up at a tubewell and sexually assaulted them.
Police have arrested and took DNA samples of fourteen individuals, including two who had been named in the FIR, while the medico-legal report of the rape survivors is awaited.
‘Sexual history of rape survivor unnecessary’: Supreme Court
The apex court, in a landmark judgement issued on January 22, declared the two-finger virginity test illegal and directed medical officers to focus on the injuries sustained by a rape survivor around their private parts, rather than the survivor’s sexual history.
In the written order, authored by Supreme Court Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and released on Thursday, declared the status of the hymen irrelevant in rape cases, as it can be torn due to non-sexual activity such as riding a bicycle and therefore is not an indicator of previous sexual intercourse. Moreover, an intact hymen does not rule out sexual violence.
The order stated that the hymen be treated like any other part of the genitals, and the only statement that can be made by the medical officer is whether there is evidence of recent sexual activity and about injuries noticed in and around the private parts.
