On May 24, the police received a phone call from the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar that a 13-year-old pregnant girl had been brought to the infirmary. She was in critical condition as a private clinic had made “several illegal and highly unsafe” attempts at an abortion. She was kept in the intensive care unit.

This ordeal was shared by Faqeerabad SP Dr Umar with Aaj Digital while speaking about the rape case.

She gave birth to a five-month-old fetus before dying.

The girl was given excessive drugs and injections during the abortion attempts, according to the medical staff.

Who was this girl?

The teenager, Nadia (identity changed to maintain privacy), was a student of the fifth standard at a government school in Phandu Town in Peshawar. Her father works at a fruit market as a labourer.

He claimed that he was unaware that his daughter had been sexually abused. He also expressed ignorance about the abortion attempts.

According to his statement, recorded by the police, he took her to doctors after she complained of a stomach ache.

25-year-old suspect confesses

The police investigation led to the neighbours of the victim. The aggrieved family had a quarrel with the neighbour in the past.

The neighbour had left the town a few days earlier, prompting the police to make them part of the investigation.

According to the police, they have arrested 25-year-old suspect Atiqur Rehman who confessed in the initial investigation, said Faqeerabad SP Dr Umar.

“The girl was passing through the street when I called her inside the house and raped her two to three times,” says his statement.

Conviction rate for sex crimes in 2022 was 3.6%

Out of the 119 cases of rape registered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 2019 to 2021, the police said that only 11 criminals could be sentenced.

In 2022, at least 365 cases of rape were registered in the province. Four of the affected boys and girls were killed.

Last year, the police arrested 329 suspects in connection with such crimes. But the conviction rate for sex crimes in Pakistan in 2022 was 3.6 per cent. Only 160 people – out of 7,988 cases – were convicted by the courts.

The police added that around 65 per cent of those charged with sex crimes were acquitted by trial courts.

11 rape cases daily reported in Pakistan

At least 11 rape cases are being reported in Pakistan daily, according to a study available at ResearchGate.

Started in 2008, ResearchGate is a platform where researchers share their work. The community has more than 20 million researchers from diverse sectors in over 190 countries.

“Over 22,000 cases have been registered with the police over the last six years,” it said. At least 1,040 cases of rape were reported in Pakistan in one year (from October 12, 2020, to October 12, 2021).

Six hundred and eighty-five of these cases were against minors; 351 adults; and four eunuchs. The data added 69 rape victims were killed.

‘Sex with a girl is rape’

The confession before the police has no legal status in court, Peshawar High Court lawyer Saifullah Muhib Kakakhel said when asked about Nadia’s case. But the statement can help the police reach concrete evidence, he added.

“There is no concept of sexual relations even with mutual consent in Islamic society,” he said. “Rather it would be a crime and then having sex with a girl under the age of 18 is a crime all over the world. Therefore, having sex with a girl will fall in the category of rape.”

He went on to add that both the mother and child died in the abortion attempt. The lawyer was of the view that the police should investigate this angle and add provisions such as Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code in consultation with the district public prosecutor.

“Medical [reports] and DNA are of the utmost importance in this case and the case can be strengthened only by preparing an effective DNA report,” said Kakakhel.

Is there any law in KP for children’s protection

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Act dates to 2010. Its commission was set up in 2011 and the law was amended in 2022.

“Whoever commits an offence of sexual abuse shall be punished with imprisonment for life or a term which may extend to 10 years but which shall not be less than two years and shall be liable to fine which may extend to five million rupees,” according to the law.

DNA reports and videos have to be submitted as evidence in court.

Amendments were made to fill legal loopholes. Experts said that weak FIRs, poor investigations, a compromise between the victim and the families of the accused and social pressure led to acquittals.

In the case of Nadia, the police claimed that her parents “kept insisting the police not register a case”.