Map: Rapes reported in Karachi so far in 2021

How many women and girls were raped in Karachi in the first six months of 2021? The answer to this question is extremely hard to reach because the government, hospitals and police don’t really make this data available.

We went looking for an answer. Our first visit was to the Police Surgeon’s office off MA Jinnah Road. The police surgeon Dr Hamid Jilani tried to convince us that most rape cases were “fake”. His theory is that they are mostly homeless, beggars who are used by powerful men to exact revenge on others. Despite us making repeated requests, he refused to share the data.

Our hope was that the Office of the Police Surgeon would have computerised collated data on the medico-legal examinations of women and girls across Karachi. A medico-legal examination to check for rape, collect samples for DNA testing and other evidence has to be done by a woman medico-legal officer (a doctor). These examinations take place in Karachi’s government hospitals, the biggest of which are Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Nazimabad, Civil Hospital, Karachi in Saddar and Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre, off Shahrah-e-Faisal. (If a rape victim goes to a private hospital, the staff have to alert the police.)

Since the Police Surgeon was not very forthcoming, we took the long route and went to each of the major government hospitals. At Abbasi, Civil and Jinnah, the medico-legal officers gave us access to the “rape registers”. It is a sensitive business. We painstakingly documented each medico-legal rape exam case by date, age and police station. We did not note down the names or any other identifying aspect of the cases because it would be unethical as victim confidentiality has to be maintained.

We were able to thus pull the raw data from January to June 2021 from the three tertiary care government hospitals. A total of 302 medico-legal examinations were conducted in this time period. However, the rape registers only give a sense of an examination conducted—in no way can this be interpreted as the number of rapes. In many cases the WMLO will reach the conclusion and write the analysis that the woman or girl was raped. But in many cases, the files did not contain subsequent investigations, such as the DNA results. The rape register does not tell you how the case proceeded in court and if the men were caught and convicted. They just give us a sense of how many women and girls came forward to be examined because they had said they were raped. 

This data set includes 19 examinations of apparent rape victims performed on the request of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC), two on requisition from the Woman Police Station in Saddar and one case referred from Cantt Railway police station.

We then went to Karachi’s jails and acquired the data for the same January to June 2021 period of every man who had been brought in on a rape charge. Fortunately, the jail data gives the date of arrest, the police station and the date of conviction for rape and gang rape cases. We were unable to match each rape case to jail cases, but as you will see, both sets give us a fair sense of how police stations have been handling these cases. 

The last and most crucial part of this story is a map. To the best of our knowledge, no map of Karachi’s police station jurisdictions is available for the public. We acquired maps and data from police stations and stitched it together, and verified and double checked it. Our hope is that this effort will go a long way in service of the citizens of Karachi.

What the data and mapping show us

A clear trend emerged when we mapped the alleged rape cases by police station.

The highest number of medico-legal rape examinations fell in the Korangi Industrial Area police station jurisdiction (15), followed by Sachal (12). It is working class neighbourhoods and industrial areas where women are coming forward with complaints of rape. The other police stations cover Karachi’s outskirts. 

The hotspot is Karachi’s East Zone (East, Malir and Korangi districts). This area had over half of the city’s alleged rapes. 

“Socio-economic burden, easy and unchecked access to the internet and poverty are the reasons behind the growing number of rape cases in the district,” District Malir Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Irfan Bahadur told Samaa Digital.

District Malir is less urban and mostly Karachi’s outskirts where an overwhelming number of people are poor and from the labour class.

“If psychological tests of the residents were conducted then you may easily emerge with the conclusion that a majority of them are experiencing frustration and depression,” the SSP said. 

The SSP made the frank admission that he felt that rape in the district is under-reported. “Just the other day, I had a meeting with East-II Investigation SSP, and he told me that District Malir police is receiving 25 to 30 complaints of rape in a month," the SSP said.

Some of the rape cases are settled in a panchayat and mohalla committee and very few people decide to go to the police to register an FIR. “The only reason people avoid to lodging a complaint of rape with the police is fear of infamy,” the SSP said.

Many areas of the city are blank with no cases emerging in 27 out of the 108 police stations.

“My rough assessment is that 10 times cases go unreported,” said Dr Summaiya, the Additional Police Surgeon who runs the medico-legal section at at JPMC. “We’re not getting them from Defence… we’re not getting them from homes, like bungalows. We aren’t getting them from apartments. Why are we just getting reported rapes from katchi abadis?”

How are rape cases reported?

According to Dr Summaiya, there are two ways in which a rape case is reported. At JPMC, they will receive direct, walk-in patients. The girl or woman is brought in by their mother or father instead of the family going to the police. The JPMC ML staff conducts the exam, takes samples and records the entry at the Police Control that then informs the relevant police station based on where the family says the rape took place.
The second way a rape case can be reported is through the police station itself. The accompanied victim will come with a letter or copy of the FIR or request from the police station for a medico-legal exam to be conducted. 

What does the medico-legal form document?

We learnt that the form where the medico-legal examination is documented is one of the most crucial parts of managing these cases. The old form, for example, did not mention if the victim’s clothes had been checked.

Details such as whether the victim had taken a bath after the rape (washing away evidence), had passed urine or stool, need to be documented. The form mentions marital status, including the option of divorced, because as Dr Summaiya says, even divorced women can be raped. It was not previously part of the form.

Even gait was added in the form. No one used to consider gait or how the woman was walking. “A woman who has been gang raped, how can her gait be normal?” she pointed out.
She added the number of children as the vaginal anatomy changes if a woman has had children, and whether they were born naturally or through a C-section. This has to be factored in if she says she was raped. “If a woman has had four normal deliveries, and she shows no injuries, it does not mean she was not raped,” she explained.

Dr Summaiya is a UN certified gender-based violence trainer. She explained why she made changes to add more details to the form because this is where she can catch out medical-legal staff who may be negligent or corrupt. If for example, the details documented all point to rape, but the officer did not reach this analytical conclusion at the end, Dr Summaiya knows there is something amiss. “This is where I catch them,” she says.

Dr Summaiya wishes more resources were put into properly training and paying medico-legal officers, of which there is an extreme shortage in Sindh. “They say, bring the mark of violence. Where do I get a mark of violence from?” she says referring to the way in which the law enforcement and legal authorities treat rape cases. “When you haven’t examined the patient head to toe, how can you say no mark of violence? It is a 14 year old bachi. Have you checked her elbows? You need the eye to see. You need that thing which you have between your ears. What the mind does not know, the eye does not see. Did you check the girl’s nails? Is there debris under the nails? Get the DNA tested... I had three cases in which the assailant was identified by nail debris DNA alone. And I got a conviction.”  

It would take very little to fix the system, perhaps just as little as Rs500,000 for a proper software to computerise medico-legal documentation. Dr Summaiya also dreams of online testimony so that the precious few MLOs don’t need to wait at court when they are needed more at the hospitals. Rape kits cost Rs50 but even these funds are not always available. Sometimes they have to steal sheets from the Edhi ambulances so they can seal evidence. They need envelopes to be able to seal delicate evidence such as nail clippings. Dr Summaiya said that she sets aside Rs800 to buy the rape kits herself.

Examination date	Age	Police Jurisdiction	ML Section
January 1	16	Iqbal Market	ASH
January 2	17	Mominabad	ASH
January 3	18	Nazimabad	ASH
January 4	9	Liaquatabad	ASH
January 4	13	Civil Line	JPMC
January 5	23	Jauharabad	ASH
January 5	11	Jackson	CHK
January 5	32	Gulshan-e-Iqbal	JPMC
January 6	30	Defence	JPMC
January 6	20	Defence	JPMC
January 8	30	Surjani	ASH
January 9	22	Steel Town	JPMC
January 11	22	Ibrahim Hyderi	JPMC
January 12	30	Sir Syed	ASH
January 12	17	Iqbal Market	ASH
January 12	17	Kalri	CHK
January 15	32	Mobina Town	ASH
January 15	25	Sir Syed	ASH
January 15	13	Gulistan-e-Jauhar	JPMC
January 15	31	Gulistan-e-Jauhar	JPMC
January 15	15	Landhi	JPMC
January 16	80-90	New Karachi Industrial Area	ASH
January 16	13	Gadap	JPMC
January 17	10	Sukhan	JPMC
January 18	13	AVCC/CIA	CHK
January 18	7	AVCC/CIA	CHK
January 18	20	Sharafi Goth	JPMC
January 18	16	Malir City	JPMC
January 20	28	Memon Goth	JPMC
January 21	20	Civil Lines	CHK
January 22	19	Manghopir	ASH
January 23	17	Paposhnagar	ASH
January 23	18	Sukkhan	JPMC
January 23	13	Korangi	JPMC
January 25	18	Hyderi	ASH
January 26	33	Mobina Town	ASH
January 29	12	Hyderi	ASH
January 29	12	AVCC/CIA	CHK
January 29	19	Saddar	CHK
January 29	8	Sharafi Goth	JPMC
January 30	35	Iqbal Market	ASH
January 30	30	Surjani	ASH
January 30	23	Paposhnagar	ASH
January 30	18	Sachal	JPMC
January 30	11	Sachal	JPMC
February 1	21	Jackson	CHK
February 1	30	Jackson	CHK
February 1	25	Zaman Town	JPMC
February 1	9	Bin Qasim	JPMC
February 1	20	Korangi	JPMC
February 4	19	Moachko	CHK
February 4	17	Shershah	CHK
February 4	10	Shah Faisal Colony	JPMC
February 5	20	Orangi Town	ASH
February 5	38	Steel Town	JPMC
February 7	13	Manghopir	ASH
February 7	18	Aziz Bhatti	JPMC
February 7	9	Ibrahim Hyderi	JPMC
February 8	18	Manghopir	ASH
February 8	24	Shah Faisal	JPMC
February 9	15	Jackson	CHK
February 11	18	Zaman Town	JPMC
February 11	9	Sharafi Goth	JPMC
February 12	15	Mominabad	ASH
February 12	16	Steel Town	JPMC
February 13	17	Gulbahar	ASH
February 13	20	Malir Cantt	JPMC
February 13	10	Malir Cantt	JPMC
February 13	28	Malir Cantt	JPMC
February 15	18	Gulbahar	ASH
February 15	18	Gabol Town	ASH
February 15	15	Gulistan-e-Jauhar	JPMC
February 15	14	Tipu Sultan	JPMC
February 16	17	Iqbal Market	ASH
February 16	18	Gulberg	ASH
February 16	24	Zaman Town	JPMC
February 16	40	Steel Town	JPMC
February 17	25	Gulshan-e-Iqbal	JPMC
February 17	14	Sachal	JPMC
February 18	21	AVCC/CIA	CHK
February 18	15	Brigade	JPMC
February 19	30	Gadap City	ASH
February 19	27	SITE Super Highway	ASH
February 20	13	Malir City	JPMC
February 20	22	Mehmoodabad	JPMC
February 20	4	Sukkhan	JPMC
February 22	18	Baldia	CHK
February 22	5	Ibrahim Hyderi	JPMC
February 24	27	Zaman Town	JPMC
February 25	34	Mobina Town	ASH
February 25	35	Kharadar	CHK
February 25	19	Kharadar	CHK
February 25	18	Sahil	JPMC
February 26	16	Orangi Town	ASH
February 26	14	AVCC/CIA	CHK
February 26	12	AVCC/CIA	CHK
February 26	15	Kalri	CHK
February 26	10	Shershah	CHK
February 26	45	Gulistan-e-Jauhar	JPMC
February 26	13	Malir City	JPMC
February 26	17	Steel Town	JPMC
February 27	11	Surjani	ASH
February 28	16	Manghopir	ASH
March 1	10	Surjani	ASH
March 1	14	Shah Faisal Colony	JPMC
March 2	18	Gulistan-e-Jauhar	JPMC
March 2	18	Sohrab Goth	JPMC
March 4	14	Ibrahim Hyderi	JPMC
March 4	9	Shah Faisal Colony	JPMC
March 4	3	Federal B Industrial Area	JPMC
March 5	14	AVCC/CIA	CHK
March 5	18	Eid Gah	CHK
March 5	20	Sachal	JPMC
March 6	18	Saeedabad	CHK
March 6	35	Sachal	JPMC
March 8	30	Mobina Town	ASH
March 9	11	AVCC/CIA	CHK
March 9	8	Zaman Town	JPMC
March 10	25	Pakistan Bazaar	ASH
March 10	38	Sachal	JPMC
March 11	21	Boat Basin	JPMC
March 12	18	Ittehad Town	CHK
March 12	18	Docks	CHK
March 13	12	AVCC/CIA	CHK
March 13	6	AVCC/CIA	CHK
March 14	40	SITE Super Highway	ASH
March 14	25	SITE Super Highway	ASH
March 14	17	Saddar	CHK
March 15	10	AVCC/CIA	CHK
March 15	12	AVCC/CIA	CHK
March 15	12	Jackson	CHK
March 15	19	Ibrahim Hyderi	JPMC
March 16	30	Sohrab Goth	ASH
March 16	17	Soldier Bazaar	CHK
March 17	20	Iqbal Market	ASH
March 17	20	Iqbal Market	ASH
March 18	13	Docks	CHK
March 18	9	Kalakot	CHK
March 18	14	Khwaja Ajmer Nagri	CHK
March 20	14	Pakistan Bazaar	ASH
March 20	24	Manghopir	ASH
March 20	27	Mominabad	ASH
March 20	18	Saeedabad	CHK
March 20	40	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
March 20	9	Model Colony	JPMC
March 20	27	Woman Police Station Saddar	JPMC
March 21	46	Supermarket	ASH
March 21	11	Korangi	JPMC
March 21	22	Brigade	JPMC
March 22	19	Mominabad	ASH
March 22	23	Shah Faisal Colony	JPMC
March 24	14	Malir City	JPMC
March 25	31	Shah Faisal Colony	JPMC
March 25	12	Sukkhan	JPMC
March 26	15	Baghdadi	CHK
March 26	18	Ittehad Town	CHK
March 26	12	Woman Police Station Saddar	JPMC
March 26	6	Airport	JPMC
March 27	17	Shahrah-e-Nur Jehan	ASH
March 27	12	Cantt Railway Police Station	JPMC
March 28	15	Pakistan Bazaar	ASH
March 28	17	Bin Qasim	JPMC
March 29	16	Khwaja Ajmer Nagri	ASH
March 30	21	Gadap	ASH
March 30	17	Pirabad	ASH
March 30	36	Boat Basin	CHK
March 30	6	Awami Colony	JPMC
March 30	16	Sachal	JPMC
March 30	30	Gulistan-e-Jauhar	JPMC
March 30	14	Sachal	JPMC
March 31	19	Zaman Town	JPMC
March 31	22	Gulistan-e-Jauhar	JPMC
April 1	25	Gulberg	ASH
April 1	13	AVCC/CIA	CHK
April 2	11	Zaman Town	JPMC
April 4	17	Sachal	JPMC
April 5	15	New Karachi	ASH
April 5	22	Sachal	JPMC
April 6	14	AVCC/CIA	CHK
April 7	22	Pakistan Bazaar	ASH
April 8	18	Mehmoodabad	CHK
April 8	17	AVCC/CIA	CHK
April 9	5	SITE A	ASH
April 9	23	Awami Colony	JPMC
April 9	22	Sharae Faisal	JPMC
April 10	16	Airport	JPMC
April 10	13	Memon Goth	JPMC
April 11	15	Surjani	ASH
April 11	15-16	Surjani	ASH
April 11	14	Steel Town	JPMC
April 13	35	Sharae Faisal	JPMC
April 14	20	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
April 14	31	Malir City	JPMC
April 16	30	Gulistan-e-Jauhar	JPMC
April 17	26	Gulberg	ASH
April 17	27	Zaman Town	JPMC
April 19	20	Baloch Colony	JPMC
April 20	27	Paposhnagar	ASH
April 21	25	Mehmoodabad	JPMC
April 22	29	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
April 23	17	Sohrab Goth	ASH
April 25	11	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
April 27	7	Model Colony	JPMC
April 29	26	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
May 1	18	Sohrab Goth	ASH
May 1	24	Model Colony	JPMC
May 1	4	Sharae Faisal	JPMC
May 2	17	Gizri	JPMC
May 3	25	Taimuria	ASH
May 3	19	Taimuria	ASH
May 3	24	Taimuria	ASH
May 3	23	Taimuria	ASH
May 3	25	Taimuria	ASH
May 3	16	NKIA	ASH
May 4	8	PIB Colony	ASH
May 7	16	Shah Latif Town	JPMC
May 11	9	Pirabad	ASH
May 11	13	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
May 14	11	Shershah	CHK
May 14	10	Shershah	CHK
May 14	12	Shershah	CHK
May 15	14	Taimuria	ASH
May 16	4	Mominabad	ASH
May 16	28	Baloch Colony	JPMC
May 17	22	Jackson	CHK
May 17	10	Baloch Colony	JPMC
May 17	6	Sharafi Goth	JPMC
May 18	45	Surjani	ASH
May 18	42	Surjani	ASH
May 18	22	Iqbal Market	ASH
May 18	16	Ittehad Town	CHK
May 18	18	Korangi	JPMC
May 19	26	Sir Syed	ASH
May 20	20	Mehmoodabad	JPMC
May 20	8	Gulistan-e-Jauhar	JPMC
May 20	25	Sharae Faisal	JPMC
May 20	28	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
May 20	20	Baloch Colony	JPMC
May 21	21	Madina Colony	CHK
May 21	21	Shah Latif Town	JPMC
May 21	13	Airport	JPMC
May 21	14	Airport	JPMC
May 22	18	Gulberg	ASH
May 22	15	Sachal	JPMC
May 24	16	Pirabad	ASH
May 24	7	Awami Colony	JPMC
May 25	12	Pak Colony	CHK
May 26	35	AVCC/CIA	CHK
May 26	14	Airport	JPMC
May 28	7	AVCC	CHK
May 28	40	Bin Qasim	JPMC
May 29	19	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
May 30	19	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
May 30	16	Korangi	JPMC
May 31	42	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
June 1	7	Chakiwara	CHK
June 1	13	AVCC	CHK
June 1	13	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
June 3	17	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
June 3	20	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
June 5	13	Ibrahim Hyderi	JPMC
June 6	8	Saudabad	JPMC
June 7	40	Mangopir	ASH
June 7	15	Chakiwara	CHK
June 7	14	Chakiwara	CHK
June 8	39	Bin Qasim	JPMC
June 9	17	Sohrab Goth	ASH
June 11	18	SITE Super Highway	ASH
June 11	19	Sharae Faisal	JPMC
June 12	44	Shahrah-e-Nur Jehan	ASH
June 12	19	Gulberg	ASH
June 12	19	Sukkhan	JPMC
June 12	19	Tipu Sultan	JPMC
June 14	25	SITE Super Highway	ASH
June 14	20	Napier	CHK
June 14	17	Jamshed	CHK
June 15	20	Gulistan-e-Jauhar	JPMC
June 16	14	Shah Latif Town	JPMC
June 18	33	Soldier Bazaar	CHK
June 18	17	Soldier Bazaar	CHK
June 18	28	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
June 18	15	Gulistan-e-Jauhar	JPMC
June 18	15	Brigade	JPMC
June 19	20	Zaman Town	JPMC
June 20	23	Ferozabad	JPMC
June 20	20	Sachal	JPMC
June 21	14	Kharadar	CHK
June 21	33	Malir City	JPMC
June 22	34	Surjani	ASH
June 22	32	Hyderi	ASH
June 22	16	AVCC	CHK
June 22	14	Korangi Industrial Area	JPMC
June 23	16	Saudabad	JPMC
June 23	19	Mehmoodabad	JPMC
June 25	15	Aziz Bhatti	JPMC
June 26	22	Shahrah-e-Nur Jehan	ASH
June 26	30	Docks	JPMC
June 29	28	Saeedabad	CHK
June 30	15	Iqbal Market	ASH
June 30	19	SITE Super Highway	ASH
June 30	16	Bilal Colony	CHK
June 30	16	Sharae Faisal	JPMC

DISTRICT WEST police stations	No of rapes reported for which ML done
Gulshan-e-Maymar	0
Iqbal Market	8
Manghopir	6
Mominabad	5
Orangi	2
Pakistan Bazaar	4
Pirabad	3
Surjani	9
Total	37

DISTRICT CENTRAL police stations	ML rape cases
Azizabad	0
Bilal Colony	1
FB Ind. Area	1
Gabol Town	1
Gulbahar	2
Gulberg	5
Hyderi Market	3
Jauhrabad	1
Kh. Ajmer Nagri	2
Liaquatabad	1
N.Nazimabad	0
Nazimabad	1
New Karachi	1
NKIA	2
Paposhnagar	3
Rizvia	0
Samnabad	0
Shahrae Noor Jehan	3
Sharifabad	0
Sir Syed	3
Supermarket	1
Taimuria	6
Yusuf Plaza	0
Total	37

DISTRICT CITY police stations	ML rape cases
Baghdadi	1
Chakiwara	3
City Court	0
Eidgah	1
Garden	0
Kalakot	1
Kalri	2
Kharadar	3
Mithadar	0
Nabi Bux	0
Napier	1
Risala	0
Total	12

DISTRICT KEAMARI	ML for rape cases
Baldia	1
Docks	3
Ittehad Town	3
Jackson	6
KPT	0
Madina Colony	1
Mauripur	0
Moachko	1
Pak Colony	1
Saeedabad	3
Shershah	5
SITE-A	1
SITE-B	0
Total	25

DISTRICT SOUTH	ML for rape cases
Arambagh	0
Artillery Maidan	0
Boat Basin	2
Civil Lines	2
Clifton	0
Darakshan	0
Defence	2
Frere	0
Gizri	1
Preedy	0
Saddar	2
Sahil	1
Total	10

EAST ZONE police stations	ML for rape cases
Aziz Bhatti	2
Bahadurabad	0
Baloch Colony	4
Brigade	3
Ferozabad	1
Gulistan-e-Jauhar	11
Gulshan-e-Iqbal	2
Jamshed Quarters	1
Mehmoodabad	5
Mobina Town	4
New Town	0
PIB Colony	1
Sachal	12
Shahrah-e-Faisal	6
Site S. Highway	6
Sohrab Goth	5
Soldier Bazaar	3
Tipu Sultan	2
Total	68

KORANGI (East Zone)	ML for rape cases
Al-Falah	0
Awami Colony	3
Khokharapar	0
Korangi	5
Korangi Ind. Area	15
Landhi	1
Model Colony	3
Saudabad	2
Shah Faisal Colony	6
Zaman Town	9
Total	44

MALIR (East zone)	ML for rape cases
Airport	5
Bin Qasim	4
Gadap City	3
Ibrahim Haidery	6
Malir Cantt	3
Malir City	6
Memon Goth	2
Quaidabad	0
Shah Latif	3
Sharafi Goth	4
Steel Town	6
Sukkhan	5
Total	47

Age in years	No of victims who had an ML in Karachi Jan-Jun 2021
3	1
4	3
5	2
6	4
7	5
8	5
9	8
10	8
11	8
12	11
13	16
14	19
15	17
16	17
17	21
18	25
19	16
20	18
21	6
22	11
23	6
24	5
25	11
26	3
27	6
28	6
29	1
30	11
31	3
32	3
33	3
34	2
35	5
36	1
38	2
39	1
40	5
42	2
44	1
45	2
46	1
80	1