Kashmore gang-rape: Child victim's injuries are 'serious and highly infected'

By
M. Waqar Bhatti
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An illustration of a young girl, sad and distraught. Photo: file

KARACHI: The four-year-old Kashmore gang-rape victim's injuries are "serious and highly infected', said doctors treating her, after the minor was admitted to the National Institute of Child Health on Saturday.

In a ghastly incident that shocked the entire country, a Karachi woman and her daughter were allegedly gang-raped by men in Kashmore. The woman travelled to the city from Karachi after she was duped by the main suspect on a job offer.

The minor victim was admitted to the NICH after initial treatment and surgery at the Chandka Medical College Hospital.

Director NICH Professor Jamal Raza said the girl was being kept in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) without a ventilator.

“The four-year-old girl from Kashmore was shifted to the NICH in the early hours of this morning. She was initially operated at Larkana and subsequently, due to respiratory distress, a chest tube was [was passed through her to provide breathing relief].

"She is currently stable and is being kept in the ICU without a ventilator,” he told The News. He added, however, that the child was in a state of shock.

Raza said that the injuries of the victim were serious and highly infected, adding that she was initially examined by the surgical team at the operation theatre. He said the wounds were cleaned and managed.

“There is evidence of contamination and severe infection for which medications are being given. There is no urgent surgical procedure required now and we will try to control the infections and review the situation,” he added.

Dr Raza said a medical board comprising surgeons and specialists has been formed to treat the victim. He said that if required, the help of gynecologists and other Karachi medical specialists from other health facilities will be sought.

Kashmore gang-rape case: Main suspect killed by accomplice, say police

The prime suspect in the Kashmore gang-rape — wherein multiple men had sexually abused a woman and her child — was killed by an accomplice on Friday evening, police had disclosed.

Read more: Kashmore gang-rape main suspect killed

According to Larkana's deputy inspector-general (DIG) of police, Nasir Aftab, the main suspect who was arrested following the Kashmore gang-rape — identified as Rafiq Ahmed Malik — was shot dead by an accomplice as police drove him to one of the various suspected locations he had identified earlier.

Kashmore's senior superintendent of police (SSP), Amjad Shaikh, explained that during the interrogation, Rafiq had disclosed some of the locations of Khairullah Bugti, identified as the second suspect in the child abuse case, and demanded that he be taken to catch the absconding man.

As security officers reached the RD-09 police station near Bakhshapur, Bugti had opened fire at them from his hideout and killed Rafiq. Police were able to detain the second suspect, Shaikh said, and recovered weapons from his possession.