In yet another case highlighting the lack of safety for women and children in Pakistan, a minor girl was allegedly abducted and later gang-raped by five influential men in Chak district here, the police said on Tuesday.
The Class 10 student said that she was first kidnapped from the fields after which the men took her to their place nearby where she was gang-raped at gunpoint, reported Geo News.
The girl said that the suspects threatened to release the video clip of the alleged crime and make it viral. An FIR has been registered against the suspects.
Women, religious minorities, and transgender people face violent attacks, discrimination, and government persecution in Pakistan, with authorities failing to provide adequate protection or hold perpetrators accountable, said the United Nations in its 2018 report.
Women from religious minorities remain particularly vulnerable to abuse, the report also outlined.
Violence against women and girls -- including rape, honour killings, acid attacks, domestic violence, and forced marriages -- remains a serious problem. Pakistani activists estimate that there are about 1,000 honour killings every year.
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Child sexual abuse remains disturbingly common in Pakistan with 141 cases reported in just Lahore here in the first six months of 2018, the report added.
In January, the rape and murder of 7-year-old Zainab Ansari in Kasur, Punjab, led to nationwide outrage and prompted the government to promise action.