FAISALABAD: The residents of Jaranwala area in Faisalabad closed shops and markets on Monday, shouting slogans against the police and demanding immediate arrested of the criminal behind the alleged rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl.
Earlier on Sunday, the body of the minor girl, Mubashira, was found in Islampura, Faisalabad, days after a university student went missing and was found murdered after rape in the industrial hub of Punjab.
A large number of civil society activists, area residents and relatives of the victim took part in the demonstration and forcibly closed shops in Jaranwala. Many lawyers boycotted court proceedings to take part in the protest.
Police were called in to control the situation after the protesters resorted to vandalism. They raised slogans against the police and charged at a bus of Punjab police with sticks.
The funeral prayers of the minor were attended by hundreds of residents at Kachery Chowk.
Mubashira went missing on Sunday and her dead body was found later with torture marks. According to police, her body was recovered from a field and bore signs of being mutilated by some animal post-humously.
An FIR (first information report) has been lodged in City police station, Jaranwala with sections of abduction, rape and murder with the girl’s father as plaintiff.
Police are awaiting the report of a postmortem examination performed on the child, which will determine whether she was subjected to rape or not.
The Punjab chief minister has formed a committee to investigate the reported alleged rape cases by paedophiles in Jaranwala. The committee has been tasked to expose the gangsters involved in the scandal, figure out the number of children and get other details including what action was taken by the police when the first case was reported.
Last week the dead body of Faisalabad university student, Abida, was found in Dijkot city of Faisalabad district, but police have yet to arrest the culprits behind the case.
Abida, a student of MA English at Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF), went missing on March 25. Her dead body was recovered from Djikot, with initial post-mortem report suggesting she was raped before being murdered.
