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A ten-year old domestic servant was allegedly raped last month by her employer, the son of the Sheikhupura district nazim. The case has come light following an anonymous complaint to the Supreme Court, which has intervened to have a case registered against the accused.
The nazim's version that she was wounded on falling from a tonga is in contrast with the account confirmed by a medical test that she bled profusely as a result of the rape. He has further taken the plea that his rivals have tried to defame him by involving his son in the crime to forestall his chances of re-election as district nazim.
Two doctors who allegedly distorted facts while preparing a report when they treated the victim, have been booked. The mystery over whether the highway robbery near Raiwind involved a rape has not been solved, what with the police engaged in stout denial.
The authorities, which never tire of proclaiming that the law and order situation has returned to a normal, are, sadly, either unaware of the ground reality or distort it deliberately to present an image of good governance.
Rapes, robberies, abductions and other crimes are constantly rising, with the police a helpless bystander or an accomplice. The culprits are not caught, or their cases for trial poorly prepared. Resultantly, justice is denied and crime flourishes.
Rapes, for instance, that should be unheard of in a Muslim society, have become so common that not a day passes without one or two instances being reported in the press and those that go unreported far outnumber them. As many as 3,720 cases were reported to the police during the past five years.
The year 2003 took the lead with 1,030 reported rapes. If a year shows decline in official statistics, it only means that victims have preferred to bear the shame to going public and bearing the stigma for the rest of their lives. The only way to bring the incidence down is to make sure that the cases are properly investigated and the guilty severely punished.
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