Three police sources, speaking to TNN, confirmed that a close relative of the victim had been arrested on Thursday.
Rifaqatullah Razarwal
In yet another tragic incident, a one-and-a-half-year-old girl was found dead in the Mumtazabad area of Sardaryab, as reported by the Charsadda Police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The spokesperson for the Charsadda Police District, Siddique Akbar, stated that the girl's father, Kamran, informed the city police that his daughter had gone missing from home in the morning.
Upon receiving the information, the DPO (District Police Officer) of Charsadda formed a special team to search for the missing girl. The family was instructed to cooperate with the search efforts. Tragically, the lifeless body of the girl was discovered in a nearby ruin.
Kamran, the father of the deceased girl, shared with TNN (Tribal News Network) that the ruins where the body was found were approximately 200 meters away from their house. He had searched the area multiple times but had been unable to locate his daughter.
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Kamran recounted, "Meanwhile, we announced that the police were coming to search the houses. After this announcement, we found the body of the girl in a sack at the same ruin, around 5 or 10 minutes later."
According to Kamran, a doctor's report indicated that his daughter had not been subjected to any form of abuse. However, the marks of violence on the girl's neck and body suggested that she had been strangled and tortured.
When asked about any personal or domestic issues, Kamran stated, "We have no enmity with anyone, and while domestic quarrels happen in every household, I do not believe that my daughter was killed due to such problems."
Family sources informed TNN that the night before the girl's death, an argument had taken place between the girl's mother and her aunt. During the altercation, the aunt made threats of dire consequences against the girl's mother.
Three police sources, speaking to TNN, confirmed that a close relative of the victim had been arrested on Thursday. The arrested woman confessed to killing the girl before the police, citing domestic violence, quarrels, and disagreements as the reasons. However, no charges have been formally filed against the accused, nor has the arrested person confessed before the court.
As per the police spokesperson, a murder case of a girl child has been registered under section 302 against unknown individuals. The name of the accused will be added to the case after the filing of the complaint.
Unfortunately, such cases are not uncommon in the KP province of Pakistan, and Charsadda has witnessed several incidents of child deaths, often involving close relatives.
In a previous incident on October 6, 2020, a two-and-a-half-year-old girl named Zainab was raped and killed in the Prang police station area. Similarly, on July 12, 2022, the mutilated body of two-year-old Maryam was discovered in nearby fields, and her father confessed to being involved in her murder.
According to a report released by Sahil, an organization working for children's rights in Pakistan, called "Cruel Number 2022," more than 12 children fall victim to abuse every day. The report highlights a 33% increase in child abuse cases in 2022 compared to 2021. Out of the total reported cases, 55% of the victims were girls, while 45% were boys, as per the gender distribution data provided by Sahil.
21 May, 2024
