Heinous crime: 10-year-old girl raped, throttled to death

CHARSADDA: A 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped and then strangled to death by unidentified men in Charsadda, police said on Thursday. Hifza*, daughter of Saulat Khan*, went to a relative’s house on Wednesday evening but did not return. Khan told the police he had assumed his daughter was spending the night there and wasn’t too alarmed. The next day, however, he received a call from his neighbours saying Hifza’s body was lying in a canal near his house in Bogrow Saha area. Khan said he rushed to the site and shifted his daughter’s body to District Headquarters Hospital, Charsadda for an autopsy. Khanmai police SHO said initial investigation revealed the girl was raped and then asphyxiated. He said they have registered a complaint and initiated investigation. Charsadda DPO Shafiullah Khan visited the bereaved family at their residence and assured them the culprits would be arrested soon. *names have been changed to protect identities Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2014.