MIRPURKHAS: Two girls, including a minor, were allegedly kidnapped and raped in the Naokot area of Mirpurkhas district in Sindh, police officials said on Tuesday.
According to details, the incident took place in the backdrop of a dispute between the Tungri and the Rajput communities of the district over a free-will marriage.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asad Chaudhry said the girls, one of whom is married, were kidnapped on Sunday, February 6, and were recovered the next day after a police raid at a house in the area.
“The young married woman and her teenage sister-in-law were examined by medico-legal officers at the rural health centre and it has been confirmed that they were subjected to rape,” the Mirpurkhas SSP said.
He, however, dispelled reports on social media that the girls had been subjected to gang rape. According to the SSP, the girls were from the Rajput community and were kidnapped and raped in captivity, allegedly by some men from the area’s Tungri community.
He said the girls and their families had accused men from the Tungri community of the crime, adding that the offence had been committed in revenge after a married woman from the Tungri community had eloped with a man from their community.
Before the girls were recovered, a close relative of theirs had registered a first information report (FIR) against 20 men of the Tungri community.
According to the FIR, men from the Tungri community had forcefully entered the complainant’s house, looted valuables at gunpoint and taken away his wife and sister on February 6.
On Monday, several hundred of the Rajput community’s members had taken to a section of the Naokot-Mirpurkhas road, demanding immediate recovery of the kidnapped girls and the arrest of the culprits.
In the meantime, Naokot police, with the help of informers, had carried out a raid on a house and recovered both the girls. They were escorted to the Nafees Nagar police post before they were taken to the Naokot police station, where they narrated their ordeal.
According to Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Mirpurkhas, the police have arrested a few suspects and action would be taken against those involved in the incident.
