Karachi, Nov 23 : A young girl in Pakistan who had recently converted to Islam was gang-raped in front of her younger sister last evening in Karachi by a group of men from whom she had sought help obtaining legal permission to live in a shelter home, the police said.

Quoting the two girls, a police official said that they were Christians and came from Gujranwala to Karachi on November 17 to convert to Islam.

The girl’s decision was influenced by a positive impression of the religious environment in the school where she was teaching. They both decided to convert, but they feared for their lives and did not tell their parents or relatives anything.

They saved Rs 10,000 and left their hometown, for Karachi, the cop said. In Multan they met Rafiq, a resident of Korangi No 6, Karachi. “They did not know anything about Rafiq but he seemed reliable to them so they asked him to arrange tickets to Karachi. They had not told him their story till they reached Karachi,” The News quoted him as saying.

At the Karachi railway station, when Rafiq heard their story, he invited them to spend the night at his home and the next day, they all went to Iftah Masjid, Binori Town, where the two girls embraced Islam.

The girls asked Rafiq to arrange for place in a shelter home for them. “Rafiq took them to the city court, introduced them to two lawyers and briefed the lawyers of their case,” said the IO.

“The lawyers filed a petition seeking legal permission for the girls to live in a shelter home but it was rejected. They then made poor excuses to take the girls home,” he said and added that this was where they raped the girl repeatedly, taking turns.

Medical checkups at the Civil Hospital, Karachi suggest that one of the sisters was a virgin. “The circumstances indicate that the lawyers raped one of the girls,” Medico Lego Officer (MLO) Dr Farida told Daily Times. “It is not enough that there is no mark of violence on the girl’s body, so clothes and other samples were sent for chemical examination, which will take 10 to 15 days,” she added. (ANI)