Rapist, murderer of minor girl arrested in Mardan

MARDAN: Uncle of the five-year-old girl whose body was found raped in a field in Mardan on August 8 confessed to the crime during the police custody on Monday.

District Police Officer (DPO) Wahid Mehmood had constituted a special team to investigate the incident with the family to be briefed on the progress into the case on a daily basis. The girl, whose body was recovered from the fields in Dhandu Pathu village of Takhtbai tehsil, was raped before being brutally murdered, the police confirmed after the issuance of medico-legal report.

The police had added that the child died due to strangulation. Reports revealed that the girl was reported missing by her father on August 7, following which a complaint had been registered. According to DPO Wahid Mehmood, the child’s body was found near the family’s residence.

The victim family had stated that torture marks were found on her body. Earlier in 2018, the menace used to be under-reported but that changed with the brutal rape and murder of a minor girl in Kasur. The death of the Kasuri girl became a watershed moment and forced the authorities to pay more attention to cases of violence against children.