Six-year-old girl raped, tortured, bludgeoned to death with rock and body dumped in sack by teen neighbor
A six-year-old girl in Pakistan's north was kidnapped, raped, tortured, and then bludgeoned to death in a killing that has sparked outrage across the South Asian nation.
The horrific incident unfolded earlier this week in Nowshera, the capital city of Nowshera District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, according to Gulf News. The victim, who has been identified only as Seema, had gone out to play and raised concerns when she did not return home in the evening. A search was launched for the young girl, with mosques in the area calling out for her on their loudspeakers on behalf of her worried parents.
Concerned locals who were searching for her eventually made a tragic discovery. They found a sack in a field and alerted the police, who after opening it, found Seema's bloodied body inside. The body was subsequently transported to Qazi Hussain Ahmed Medical Complex Nowshera, from where it was taken to the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar.
Doctors who examined the six-year-old confirmed the worst: she had been tortured before she was killed. Police later said they found her body at a deserted chicken farm near her home and that she had been hit on her head, as well as other parts of her body with a heavy stone multiple times.
Photos posted on social media shows the young girl posing with a boy, believed to be her brother. In another, more distressing snap, her battered body could be seen covered in blood and bruises.
An 18-year-old neighbor, who is said to have joined the search for Seema after she was reported missing, has been arrested for the brutal killing and has confessed to raping and murdering the six-year-old, according to the Mirror. When questioned, the teen allegedly told investigators he killed her because he feared she would identify him as her rapist. Another suspect has been arrested as well, but the authorities have not revealed his identity.
It is not the first such incident to have hit headlines from the country. The Daily Times reported that a seminary teacher named Maulvi Ghulam Abbas Sehto who was accused of molesting a 12-year-old boy at a mosque in Buddak village near Kandiaro was freed after his arrest.
A video that circulated on social media showed Sehto sexually abusing the victim and a First Incident Report (FIR) was registered against the teacher by the victim's mother, only for a local court to order his release on bail. Police reports stated that the child was not raped and that the accused was only "carrying out unethical acts."
According to Sahil, a non-governmental organization that works to protect children against sexual abuse, as many as eight children were sexually abused every day in Pakistan in 2019.