மசூதிக்குள் 10 வயது சிறுமி கற்பழிப்பு: இமாம் கைது

10-year-old girl raped in Gowalmandi mosque
* Victim identifies son of mosque’s imam as rapist
Staff Report

LAHORE: A 10-year-old girl was raped by two men in a mosque in Gowalmandi on Monday, her neighbours and police officials told Daily Times.

The police said the girl, Iqra, had identified the rapists as Ayaz, son of Ghulam Rasool, the mosque’s imam (prayer leader), and an unidentified accomplice. The police said they had arrested the imam.

The victim’s mother, Saira Khan, said she had sent her daughter to the bazaar to buy grocery. “When Iqra did not return home, I sent her father, Tariq Mehmood, to trace her,” she added. She said that her husband had failed to trace their daughter. After half an hour, she said, Iqra returned home with her clothes stained with blood. Saira said her daughter fell unconscious after arriving home.

The parents took their daughter to Mayo Hospital, where she told them that two unidentified men had taken her to a mosque where they raped her on its second floor.

The Mayo Hospital doctors referred Iqra to the Lady Aitchison Hospital. The Lady Aitchison doctors treated her and sent her back to the Children’s Ward of Mayo Hospital.

Gowalmandi Police officials said the girl had told them that the accused had the keys to the rooms of the mosque’s second floor. “The girl’s statement helped us establish the involvement of the mosque’s imam in the incident, since he was the custodian of the keys,” the police added.

The capital city police officer (CCPO) and senior superintendent of police (SSP) also reached the Lady Aitchison Hospital.

Sources in the hospital said female patients at the hospital had chanted slogans against the police. One of the patients also humiliated a senior police officer, while quoting a-week-old incident in Gowalmandi in which a nine-year-old girl was raped by her maternal uncle and his friend, the sources added.

The source said the senior police officers left the hospital after the reaction.

The CCPO and SSP were not available for comment.