MULTAN: Pakistani police arrested the key suspect in the gang rape of a woman polio worker who was assaulted by three men during last week’s vaccination campaign, officials said Wednesday. Two other suspects are still at large.
The assault on Thursday in Jacobabad, a district in the southern Sindh province, was one in a spate of attacks targeting polio vaccination teams going door to door in the campaign across Pakistan.
The woman who was attacked had alerted the authorities, saying she was raped by three men after going into a house in Jacobabad to administer polio drops to the children there, local police official Mohammad Saifal said.
The suspect, identified as Ahmad Jakhrani, was arrested overnight, Saifal added.
Police are still seeking the arrest of the two other men, accused of taking turns to assault the woman, Saifal said. A local police chief was fired for negligence following the attack, for failing to provide the polio worker with adequate security.
The attack shocked many Pakistanis as such sexual assaults are rare, though women polio workers have complained of harassment in the past during the campaigns. The provincial government in Sindh has said it would fully investigate the case.
Police also detained the husband of the attacked woman for kicking her out of their home and threatening to kill her after the assault over allegedly tarnishing the family’s honor by being raped.
So-called honor killings, in which women and girls are slain by their own relatives for allegedly dishonoring the family’s reputation, are still common in Pakistan.
Saifal also said police have been deployed to the house where the woman was now staying with her relatives for her protection.
Anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan are regularly marred by violence. Militants often target polio vaccination teams and police assigned to protect them, falsely claiming that the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Since January, Pakistan has reported 17 new cases of polio, jeopardizing decades of efforts to eliminate the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease from the country. Polio often strikes children under age 5 and typically spreads through contaminated water.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in which the spread of polio has never been stopped. Pakistan’s government is planning another polio vaccination drive in October.
Pakistan police arrest key suspect in gang rape of a woman polio worker
https://arab.news/26ptk
Pakistan police arrest key suspect in gang rape of a woman polio worker
- Police also detained husband of attacked woman for kicking her out of home and threatening to kill her over allegedly tarnishing the family’s honor by being raped
Grand jury declines to indict man in shooting that killed teen at Kentucky State University
- After the grand jury decision, Kentucky State officials said they “will cooperate with law enforcement and investigators as appropriate” and are focused on student safety and well-being
FRANKFORT, Kentucky: A grand jury has declined to indict the father of two Kentucky State University students who was charged with murder in an on-campus shooting that killed one student and critically injured another.
In a social media post after the Tuesday hearing, defense attorney Scott Danks said grand jurors decided not to indict his client, Jacob Lee Bard, for the Dec. 9 shooting and he is out of jail. Bard’s attorneys have said that 20 to 30 people had gathered to attack his son and family, and that he was justified in shooting two people who were beating his son.
After the grand jury decision, Kentucky State officials said they “will cooperate with law enforcement and investigators as appropriate” and are focused on student safety and well-being.
Bard’s attorneys say the family was moving their younger son out, with two armed campus police officers present, after withdrawing both sons from school because of “multiple armed, violent” incidents against them and other students in the days leading up to Dec. 9, some captured on security cameras.
When the family and an officer reached the dormitory entrance on the move-out day, the group of people in masks and hoods rushed out and began violently assaulting the family and others, including beating the son’s head against the pavement, the attorneys said.
In October, the younger son reported a burglary in his dorm room to campus police and received threats of violence afterward, the attorneys said.
Because of continued death threats, the sons are now staying in an undisclosed location, the attorneys added.
“Jacob’s actions were absolutely justified under the law, and were the only measure that prevented his son’s death or serious injury,” the attorneys wrote.
Investigators have said the shooting was isolated, but they have not publicly shared details of the circumstances or a possible motive. The shooting killed 19-year-old De’Jon Fox of Indianapolis.
In a message to the campus community, Kentucky State said the grand jury decision “does not lessen the pain our community continues to feel, nor does it change our priorities.”
“Our commitment remains centered on supporting our students and ensuring Kentucky State University is a safe place to learn, live, and work,” it said.
The shooting was the second in four months near the residence hall. Someone fired multiple shots from a vehicle on Aug. 17, striking two people who the university said weren’t students. Frankfort police said one victim was treated for minor injuries and the second sustained serious injuries. The dorm and at least one vehicle were damaged by gunfire.
Police have said Bard, 48, is from Evansville, Indiana, which is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) west of Frankfort.
Kentucky State is a public historically Black university with about 2,200 students. Lawmakers authorized the school’s creation in 1886.
