An eight-year-old girl burnt after allegedly being sexually assaulted died on her wounds at Jinnah Hospital of Lahore on Tuesday morning.
According to reports, she was found burnt by passers-by in the morning of April 8 who took her to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital. The preliminary examination showed that the child had suffered burns on 80 to 90 percent of her body. She was referred to the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore where she remained under treatment till Tuesday when she passed away. Some residents in ward 17 of Chichawatni’s Mohammadabad area said they had last seen her leave her house to go to the market in the morning.
A murder case has been registered against the suspects, the police said on Tuesday. The FIR does not yet include rape charges, which will be included if ascertained in the post mortem examination.
Meanwhile, on hearing about the news of the child’s death, residents of the area took to the streets demanding justice for the deceased minor. All the business centres and shops remained closed throughout the day, bringing the commercial activity to a halt.
The protesters raised slogans like ‘Zaalimon! khoon ka hisaab do’ (Oppressors! answer for the blood of the child), as the girl’s body arrived in the town for her funeral prayers.
The child was a student in second grade. After her funeral prayers, she was laid to rest in an area graveyard.
Sahiwal DPO Mohammad Atif Ikram told the media that police had taken a suspect into custody and were interrogating him. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif later took notice of the murder and demanded a swift investigation.
Earlier in the year, the brutal rape and murder of Zainab Ansari, a child in Kasur, had been reported that shocked the entire country. #JusticeforZainab subsequently became a rallying cry in a nationwide drive to end violence against children. Zainab’s killer was caught and sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court on four counts. The Lahore High Court later dismissed his appeal against the trial court’s verdict.
Published in Daily Times, April 11th 2018.
