NEWS DESK: The postmortem report of the seven-year-old child Zainab hasrevealed horrifying facts regarding the brutal rape murder case.
She was found dead in Kasur and postmorterm report suggested that she hadbeen raped and sodomized before being strangulated to death.
Zainab’s body was found in a trash heap in Kasur days after she wentmissing. According to District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Medico LegalOfficer (MLO) Dr Quratulain Attique, the post-mortem examination revealedthe child had died of strangulation while her hymen was ruptured. There wasalso evidence to suggest that the child had been sodomized.
The examination was conducted the same day Zainab’s body was found onTuesday. According to the MLO, there were visible marks of torture on herface and congestion in her muscles while her tongue was badly bruised andinjured as it was pressed between her teeth. She added that the hyoid bonewas fractured, indicating strangulation.
Dr Attique said an initial examination suggested she may have been dead fortwo to three days. Zainab went missing on January 4, suggesting that shemay have been held captive by her abductors for two to four days before shewas killed.
Although the MLO did not explicitly confirm that the minor was raped,findings in the autopsy suggest that she may have been sexually assaulted.There was mud, fecal matter and blood found on her body, said Dr Attique,and samples of semen, vaginal fluid and blood were collected from her body.
The samples have been sent to a lab in Lahore for testing, Dr Attique said,adding that the process of testing can take up to three months.
Dr Attique said that this is the fourth such case she has seen in the sevenmonths she has been at DHQ Kasur. Of the four cases, only one childsurvived the ordeal. The findings in all the cases were similar to those inZainab’s case.