Dear friends,
It has been brought to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that a two-and-a-half-year-old girl, Neha Masih, has been raped at her home at Shamas-ul-Haq’s dairy farm in Rahwali where her father was employed. The dairy farm is also home to the alleged perpetrator, Mr. Abid, who works there with his family.
Please send a letter to the relevant authorities in Pakistan and ask for justice by ensuring a thorough investigation of the case. Also seek assurance that the girl is medically and psychologically attended for and her family granted the legal assistance required. Furthermore, it is important to note that the family reportedly is now homeless since they left the dairy farm in search of work and a safer place to stay for the whole family.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION
Name of victim: Miss Neha Masih, two-and-a-half, daughter of Mr. Munir Masih
Alleged perpetrator: Mr. Abid, 24
Complainant: Mr. Munir Masih, father of victim Neha Masih
Witnesses: Mr. Munir Masih and Ms. Sajidah, parents of the victim, reported seeing the alleged perpetrator running away from the place where the girl was found
Place of Incident: Shamas-ul-Haq’s dairy farm, Rahwali, Punjab Province
Date of Incident: 6 April 2004
Case reported on: 6 April 2004 at Cantt Police Station, Gujranwala, Punjab
CASE DETAILS
On 6 April 2004, Ms. Sajidah left her daughter Neha Masih on the veranda while she went to the shop about one kilometre away. When she returned, she noticed that her daughter was missing, and she called her husband, and they, together with others, started searching for the little girl.
Reportedly, after about two hours, the mother of the alleged perpetrator, Ms. Irshad Bibi, found the girl. At first, she tried to cover the girl’s wounds and conceal that the girl had been raped by washing her in a nearby fishpond. The girl’s parents, however, soon reached the scene and discovered the badly wounded state of their daughter. They are reported to have seen the alleged perpetrator, Mr. Abid, running away from the scene of abuse where the girl had been left bleeding in a cavity near a heap of straw a few yards from the farmhouse.
Upon finding the girl, the parents rushed with the wounded girl to the nearby hospital where her wounds were stitched. The doctors could not determine, however, whether the rape also had injured her internal organs until she grows up. Her mental distress though is apparent to everyone as she is constantly afraid and has tremors while sleeping.
The other workers at the farm eventually caught the alleged perpetrator and locked him up in a room and consequently handed him over to the police at the Cantt police station (Gujranwala) for interrogation by the officer in charge, Station House Officer Mr. Farhat Mehmood. A first information report or FIR (No: 186/04 Sections: 10/7/79) has been lodged.
Ms. Sajidah has stated that her eldest daughter had come to her mother crying about two months prior to the reported incident of rape, saying that the alleged perpetrator Mr. Abid had forcefully been kissing and touching her. In response to this, Ms. Sajidah had confronted Mr. Abid in a rage.
The girl and her family are today homeless as they decided to leave the dairy farm to look for work and a safer place to stay for the whole family.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Please send a letter, fax or e-mail to the addresses below and express your concern about this serious case.
1. General Pervez Musharraf
President
Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan Secretariat,
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 4768 / 920 1893 or 1835
2. Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi
30-C, Ch. Zahur Elahi Road,
Gulberg-II, Lahore
or
House No.9, Street
72, F-8/3, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
3. Hon. Mr. Khalid Maqbool
Governor
State Government of Punjab
Telephone: +92 42 920 0016
Fax: +92 42 920 0052
E-mail: governor.sectt@punjab.gov.pk
4. Mr. Kamran Rasool
Chief Secretary of Punjab
Telephone: +92 42 920 3162
E-mail: chiefsecy@punjab.gov.pk
5. Mr. Sahadat Ullah Khan
Inspector General of Police of Punjab
Telephone: +92 42 921 0062
Fax: +92 42 921 0028, 921 0064
6. Ms. Yakin Erturk
Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
c/o Ms Christina Saunders
Room 3-042, OHCHR-UNOG, Palais Wilson,
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 / 917 9022
Email: <mailto:csaunders@ohchr.org>csaunders@ohchr.org
7. Committee on the Rights of the Child
c/o OHCHR ¨C UNOG, Palais Wilson,
1211 Geneva 10, SWITZERLAND
Fax: + 41 22 917 9022
E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Re: Two-and-a-half-year-old girl raped
Name of victim: Miss Neha Masih, two-and-a-half, daughter of Mr. Munir Masih
Alleged perpetrator: Mr. Abid, 24
Complainant: Mr. Munir Masih, father of victim Neha Masih
Witnesses: Mr. Munir Masih and Ms. Sajidah, parents of the victim, reported seeing the alleged perpetrator running away from the place where the girl was found
Place of Incident: Shamas-ul-Haq's dairy farm, Rahwali, Punjab
Date of Incident: 6 April 2004
Case reported on: 6 April 2004 at Cantt Police Station, Gujranwala, Punjab
It is hard not to feel disturbed by this awful act of sexual violence directed at such a small innocent child. Enormous physical pain and mental distress have been inflicted on her, and it is not clear to what extent this damage can be repaired. Her family has also suffered a great deal and continues to do so as they are without a home and work since they left the farm where they were living in the same servant's quarters as the alleged perpetrator's family.
A thorough investigation and follow-up of this case is the responsibility of the law enforcement authorities, whose concern must be to do all they can to give justice to those who have suffered.
That the victim's family is without work and a safe home is, of course, a very urgent matter as well. We hope that the family is able to return to a normal life as soon as possible.
Thank you for your attention into this serious matter.
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Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
