Police turn blind eye to rampant kidnapping and rape of Hindu girls in Pakistan's Sindh province

Source http://www.sindhtoday.net
Friday, March 26, 2010

Karachi, (ANI): A 12-year-old Hindu girl, Nandini, is still missing as police officials have failed to recover her even after four months of her being allegedly picked up by an influential individual of the city.  

Officials have no information regarding Nandini's whereabouts, who was kidnapped in December last year, and the accused named Younis has not been arrested despite the fact that there is a first information report (FIR) registered against him.  

It is not an isolated case where Hindu families have been left with little choice than to lament over their fate, with no help in sight from the authorities. 

Several Hindu families, which are at the receiving end of the government's apathy, are awaiting justice for years but there's no one to listen to their plight.  

According to Roshni Research and Development Welfare Organisation (RRDWO), a non-government organisation (NGO), a research has shown in majority of cases involving the minority community, police only provide lip service and do not seriously hunt down the criminals.  


The NGO's President, Muhammad Ali, cited another case of a 17-year-old Hindu girl, who was kidnapped and raped by four men, in January this year. All the four accused were granted pre-arrest bail by a session court.  

"Rape is a non-bail able offence in Pakistan and this is against criminal procedure and the law," The Daily Times quoted Ali, as saying. Ali said the Asian Human Rights Commission has also expressed its serious concern over the case. "Instead of giving justice to the victim's family, the police later arrested the victim's father on a false offence, and have obstructed attempts by the family to file an FIR and obtain a medical report," he added. Ali also disclosed that an 'illegal' tribal court had asked the victim girl to marry her rapist and convert to Islam following which the girl had threatened public self-immolation.  

"Not arresting the rapists and rather forcing a Hindu girl, who is a rape victim, to convert to Islam and be the wife of the culprit could be double trauma for the victim. It is another form of further victimising a woman," he said.  

Ali also appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to take suo moto notice of the gross human rights violations of the poor and the marginalized minorities in the Sindh province at the hands of police and lower judiciary, who are influenced by the feudal and local elite. (ANI)