An 18-year-old female cotton-picker from village 53/12-L in Chichawatni tehsil, who was abducted, raped, and then sold to a prostitution network in Sindh, managed to escape after 40 days and returned home on Tuesday, media reports said.

 

According to reports, the victim, identified as Z, told police that she was trafficked from Punjab to Sindh and forced into prostitution. On the complaint of her maternal uncle Gulam Abbas, Okanwala Bangla police registered a case on Wednesday against four suspects, including two residents of her native village, one man from Dhagri village in Umerkot district, and an unidentified person.

 

The case has been filed under sections 375-A and 365-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, along with provisions of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2018.

 

Police reports state that on August 20, 2025, ‘Z’ went to a nearby village to pick cotton. On her way back, two armed men from her village allegedly intercepted her on a motorcycle, abducted her, and took her to an abandoned house where they repeatedly raped her.

 

The victim told police that the suspects later drugged her and she lost consciousness. When she regained awareness, she was in a car on a highway. She said the suspects again used a chemical-soaked cloth to render her unconscious and transported her to Dhagri village in Umerkot, Sindh.

 

There, she said, she was handed over to a suspect identified as G, who told her that her abductors had sold her to him for Rs200,000. She said G ran a brothel and forced her into prostitution, where she suffered repeated sexual abuse by him and other men.

 

The FIR states that on September 27, while being transported to Hyderabad, the suspect’s car got stuck in traffic on the national highway. Taking advantage of the situation, Z escaped from the car and cried for help. As people gathered, the suspect fled the scene.

 

The girl said a passerby gave her a phone to contact her family. She was taken to a house in Hyderabad, where her cousin Farooq and her uncle Abbas reached and brought her back to Chichawatni. On Wednesday, she lodged a formal complaint with the police.

 

A police official said the victim is being medically examined and confirmed that a case has been registered against the suspects. The official added that the girl informed investigators about a criminal network operating across Punjab and Sindh, abducting young girls and selling them into prostitution.

 

Sahiwal DPO Rana Tahir told a private media outlet that police arrested one of the girl’s abductors, who has denied the charges. He said investigations are underway.

 

The victim’s family claimed they had approached Okanwala Bangla police on August 21 with a complaint about her abduction, but officers did not register an FIR. There are also unconfirmed reports that the other abductor was previously indicted in a honey-trap case at Fatehsher police station.