KARACHI: According to a report published by Daily Dawn, more than 500 women and underage girls were sexually assaulted in Karachi alone during the year 2023 which also saw 4,042 cases of physical assault on them, the police surgeon said. A spokesperson for the charity told Dawn on 31 Dec 2023 that the data was based on the figures of those killed or wounded across the city and reported at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) during the past year.
Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed — who heads the team of medico-legal officers deputed in the city’s three major hospitals — also said that as many as 1,565 bodies were brought to the three hospitals for a post-mortem examination. Those died included murder victims, traffic accidents, suicides, etc.
The data compiled by the Edhi Foundation also said that 224 cases of infanticide were reported across the city during the year 2023.
In a statement, Faisal Edhi expressed his disappointment over the cases of infanticide but claimed that a ‘significant reduction’ in the recovery of bodies of newborn babies was witnesses in the outgoing year.
Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed told Dawn 522 women and young girls were sexually assaulted during 2023.
She said that 4,042 cases of physical assault on women were reported in the outgoing year.
522 women and young girls were sexually assaulted during 2023 in Karachi, report reveals
She said that 22 bodies were exhumed on the orders of judicial magistrates / courts during the year 2023.
Meanwhile, a police spokesperson said that till Dec 29, 3,158 encounters took place across Sindh in which 21 policemen were martyred while 1,726 criminal gangs were eliminated.
He also said that 188 encounters took place with dacoits in katcha areas (riverine) in which 40 bandits were killed while 136 others were arrested.
According to Sindh Rangers, they had conducted 163 operations against terrorists, targeted killers, kidnappers and extortionists along with the police and arrested 197 high-profile suspects who were members of different banned religious/sectarian, sub-nationalists and gangs.
Acknowledgement: Published in Daily Dawn on January 1st, 2024
