Karachi Reported Alarming Rise in Cases of Minors’ Rape and Murder in 2022

Cases of underage girls being murdered after being raped have increased alarmingly in Karachi in 2022. At least six such incidents have been documented in the city in just over three months, with half of them occurring this month alone.

This year, the city has also recorded over 200 reports of sexual abuse.

As per the Karachi police records, the victims in eight of the 216 abuse complaints were under the age of five, 40 were between the ages of six and ten, 38 were between the ages of 15 and 18, and 95 were older than the age of 18.

Almost all of the children’s rape and murder suspects have been detained by police. Close relatives or neighbors were the prime suspects in most of these cases.

The police has already been working to strengthen the investigation and prosecution of these cases, but they have acknowledged that additional training is required to handle them effectively.

An NGO, called War Against Rape (WAR), studied these instances and discovered that the majority of survivors were children under the age of 18, with the most of cases being recorded for women and female kids, and rape being the most prevalent crime.

To prevent these crimes, the NGO has called on the government to create comprehensive sex training and education for parents and teachers.

The police was also criticized for their mishandling of missing person cases and for being irresponsible in their hunt for missing girls. The NGO has proposed that the government utilize the Zainab Alert app and that the media help to raise awareness about these problems.