Mother pleads for death penalty for children’s rapist father, n Nightmarish video evidence of assault, abuse, shows children crying, shivering n Two years after the case was reported to police, and dismissed for lack of evidence n Both children tortured for years, mother kept bound and gagged n The Nation’s reporter approached by mother desperate for her girls’ protection n Buzdar orders swift investigation, promises mother and children will receive justice n Accused incarcerated at Hanjarwaal police station
LAHORE - Late last night, the Chief Minister Punjab ordered a raid to save two young girls, aged 9, and 5, from hellish abuse by their father, who had been raping and abusing them for years. The children’s mother approached The Nation’s reporter, Iftikhar Alam, with harrowing videos, showing her husband brutally assaulting two daughters, ages 9 and 5, at their home on Katarband Road, next to the 1122 office. The rapist ‘H’, was recorded sexually abusing his daughters, on videos made with a mobile phone camera hidden by his wife in a small rented room where the family has been living for more than two years.
DIG Shehzad Akbar led the raid, along with SP Saddar Moaz Zafar. The father of the children was arrested, all the while denying that he was in any way involved in the atrocities, and blamed his wife for accusing him in the case. He was shifted to Hanjarwaal Police Station.
The victims’ mother said her husband has been raping his nine year old daughter for more than five years, and his five year old daughter for more than a year. He kept his wife and all children detained in the rented two and a half marla house at Katarband Road, Thokar Niaz Baig for more than two years.
The scenes of rape, torture, molestation, and abuse were recorded stealthily by the desperate mother. The children in the videos are seen crying, shivering, and begging. The unfortunate mother said her husband had been using potency drugs while abusing their children as well.
More than a dozen video clips have been handed over as evidence to the police, containing harrowing and distressing scenes of the worst kinds of abuse by the accused.
The mother ‘A’ decided to go to this length and recorded the abuse of her daughters after she was allegedly denied justice when she approached police two years ago. ‘H’, she says, was then arrested in Chuhang Police Station on her complaint but set free following “unavailability of solid proofs against him”.
He has been brutally torturing her since that day, and detained her in a two and half marla home in Thokar Niaz Baig area comprising a room, small kitchen and a bathroom. ‘H’, she said, works in a salt making factory located near to their rented house.
The mother of the children reported that at times he had broken her bones, stuck scissors in her abdomen, and kept her bound in their rented room. “He ties my mouth shut all night and uses all brutal techniques of torture,” she said sharing details of her story with this scribe.
She said her neighbour advised her two months before to approach the media if she wanted her voice to be heard and be given justice. She approached this reporter, and said she had video evidence, so that this time her plea would not be dismissed for “lack of evidence”, as it was previously at the police station.
Her female neighbour, whose name she was not ready to share due to sensitivity of the matter gave her the suggestion to place a hidden camera in the room to record evidence, she said. ‘A’ also borrowed a phone from her neighbour, as ‘A’ herself neither had one, nor could afford one. She hid the borrowed phone in the room where her husband had been abusing their children, in a desperate attempt to save her daughters from the abuser.
‘A’ pleaded that her children were alone at their home with their father. She implored the scribe not to allow her children to be alone with their father as she had evidence of the abuse they had been suffering. Upon being shown the harrowing evidences collected by the distressed mother, the scribe immediately brought the notice to the attention of Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar, who ordered an immediate action, and within minutes police were at the door of the unfortunate home. The home of the victims is ironically next door to the 1122 Katarband Road office.
“I went to the police station when one day my daughter told me about the incident.” She remembered how her then three years old daughter tried to describe the incident when one day she arrived back from her place of employment, where she was placed as a domestic worker.
“Ami abu meray sath ghalt kam krta hy (Mother, father does bad things with me.)”
“I was then speechless and I tried to ask him, but he instead started torturing me. And after that I went to police.”
She said her husband a few months back sold his elder daughter as a domestic worker and started assaulting her five year old daughter.
‘A’ married ‘H’ eight years earlier and had five children from him. ‘H’ whose permanent home is in a village near Burewala, has no link with his parents and brothers and shifted to Lahore a decade ago. He now lives at a Katarband Road, Thokar Niaz Baigh. His age is between 35 to 38.
The mother ‘A’ appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to ensure that her children get justice, and the accused is tried and given the death penalty for the harrowing crimes committed against her children.
The Chief Minister Punjab said, “I will follow the case personally. The investigation will be properly done and swift, and will be monitored at the highest levels. Children of our country will be protected by all the strength we have in us, they will be given justice and protection under the full ambit of the law.”
(The Nation has not used any names of the family members in the story, due to sensitivity of the matter.)
(The Nation)
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