Police in Punjab’s Hafizabad district have registered a First Information Report (FIR) in the case of a 14-year-old girl with mental and physical disabilities, who was allegedly raped and later found to be six months pregnant.

The victim, who is cognitively impaired and unable to walk, speak, or hear, was taken to the hospital by her family as a result of health concerns. During the medical examination, staff discovered that she was pregnant.

The parents, who come from an underprivileged and illiterate family background, claimed they were unaware of the crime.

The FIR, numbered 1152/25, was registered at City Hafizabad Police Station under Section 376(3) of the Pakistan Penal Code, which pertains to the rape of minors or individuals with mental or physical disabilities, and carries penalties of life imprisonment or the death sentence, along with a fine.

The complainant has been identified as Rana Sultan Mahmood. According to the investigation, the accused reportedly sexually assaulted the girl after discovering her by herself in the Hussainabad area six months prior. 

The suspect reportedly went into hiding after the incident.

Hafizabad District Police Officer (DPO) Atif Nazir Kadhar took notice of the case and instructed the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) City Circle to submit a detailed report.

Police have stated that efforts are being made to arrest the accused within 48 hours. The victim’s family is currently under police protection.

This incident aligns with nationwide data compiled by Sahil, an organisation working on child protection.

Sahil, an organisation working for the protection of children’s rights, has released a Six Month Cruel Numbers data revealing that a total of 1,630 cases of child abuse were reported from across the country.

The data reveals that in the first six months of 2024, with 862 cases of child sexual abuse, 668 cases of abduction, 82 cases of missing children, 18 cases of child marriages, and 48 cases of pornography after sexual abuse were reported.

Out of the total reported cases, 59 percent (962) of victims were girls and 41 percent (668) were boys.

About 81 daily national and regional newspapers were monitored from January to June 2024 to collect data on child sexual abuse, abduction, missing children and cases of early marriages.

The areas include the four provinces along with the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

The data shows that the most vulnerable age group remains children aged 6-15, with 693 cases reported in this bracket. 

Additionally, 94 cases involved children aged 0-5, 231 children were from the 16-18 age bracket, and in 612 cases, the age of the victims was not mentioned.

In the year 2024, January-June, the abusers involved in 47 % of the total cases were acquaintances, 18 % were strangers, while in 9%, acquaintances along with strangers committed crimes against children.

In the first six months of 2024, 78 % of the total cases were reported from Punjab and 6 % from the ICT. The rest of the cases were reported from other provinces, including 11 % cases from Sindh, 3 % cases from KP, and 2 % cases from Balochistan, AJK and GB.

Out of the total reported cases, 44 % were from urban areas and 56 % were from rural areas.

Cases of violence against women

In the first half of the year concerning violence against women, Sahil observed that a total number of 1,732 cases were reported, which included different forms of violence such as murder, suicide, abduction, rape, honour killing and torture.

Sahil’s objective

Sahil has been working on child protection with a special focus on child sexual abuse since 1996.

It aims to develop a protective environment free from all forms of violence for children, especially child sexual abuse.

It also provides legal, emotional and psychological support to the victims.

In related incidents, Lahore police arrested four suspects in May for an alleged gang rape of a mentally-challenged minor, and a madrassah teacher in Muzaffargarh was arrested for allegedly raping an 11-year-old student.