A 12-year-old girl was allegedly raped and burnt to death in Ghotki district’s Daharki city last week. The victim’s mother was also severely injured and gained consciousness on Monday.
The victim and her mother stitched and sold sheets for a living and were pursued by three men under the pretence of wanting to purchase their products. The girl was drugged after being offered tea and was allegedly set on fire by the three men after being raped, the victim’s 40-year-old mother said.
The victim’s brother filed a petition at the Ghotki sessions court upon the police’s refusal to register the case. The court has taken notice of the incident and has ordered the victim’s mother to record her statement.
Earlier this month, a 10-year-old boy was allegedly raped and strangled to death in Gujranwala.
Rape is notoriously difficult to prosecute in Pakistan. In April 2011, the Supreme Court had upheld the acquittal of five men sentenced to death in Pakistan’s most famous rape case, that of Mukhtar Mai.
Mai was gang raped in 2002 on the orders of a village council as punishment, after her brother, who was aged just 12 at the time, was accused of having illicit relations with a woman from a rival clan.
A local court had sentenced six men to death, but a higher court acquitted five of them in March 2005, and commuted the sentence for the main accused, Abdul Khaliq, to life imprisonment.