Zainab Amin Ansari ( ur, ; – January 2018) was a seven-year-old Pakistani girl who was abducted in her hometown of Kasur, Punjab while she was on her way to Quran recitation classes on 4 January 2018. Her body was found discarded five days later within a garbage disposal site near the city of Lahore on 9 January 2018; an

autopsy An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...

report disclosed that she had been extensively raped and tortured before being

strangled Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and is one of two main ways that hanging ...

to death. Her rapist and murderer, 24-year-old Imran Ali, was arrested and identified as a serial killer responsible for at least seven previous rapes and murders of prepubescent girls in the region. Ansari's murder incited widespread protests and outrage throughout Pakistan, and ultimately led to the passage of Pakistan's first national child safety law, known as the Zainab Alert Bill (similar to the AMBER Alert system in the United States). The bill directs that any individual found guilty of child abuse faces a minimum mandatory sentence of life imprisonment and also stipulates instigating legal action against any law enforcement officials who cause any unnecessary delay in investigating such cases within two hours of a child being reported as missing.

Event

The incident occurred when Ansari's parents were in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah, while she was temporarily living with her uncle. On 4 January 2018, she went missing while on her way to a Quran tuition class near her home. Her uncle, Muhammad Adnan, lodged a complaint with the

Kasur District Kasur District ( Punjabi and ur, , translit=Zilā Qasūr), is a district located in Lahore Division of Punjab, Pakistan. It came into existence on 1 July 1976. Prior to its creation, it was a tehsil of the Lahore District. The district capit ...

police office.

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

video footage discovered by Ansari's family without any aid from local authorities showed her accompanied by an unknown bearded man in white clothes and a jacket, holding her hand and walking on Peerowala Road in Kasur. Her body was later discovered at a garbage disposal site on Shahbaz Khan Road on 9 January 2018. An

report confirmed that she had been raped,

sodomised Sodomy () or buggery ( British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term '' ...

and tortured before being

to death.

Protests

Prior to the rape and murder of Ansari, the province of Punjab had seen several pedophilia scandals, with local law enforcement accused of inaction and/or cover-up efforts. Following Ansari's murder, protests were held in many major cities across Pakistan, including the capital of Islamabad, which saw candlelight vigils, vehicles burned, roads blockaded and several clashes between protestors and police; two people were killed after they had broken into a police station. Four policemen who allegedly opened fire at protesters in Kasur were reportedly arrested and under investigation.

Reactions

The former Chief Minister of Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif, tweeted: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai wrote on Twitter: "This has to stop. overnmentand the concerned authorities must take action." Imran Khan tweeted: "The condemnable & horrific rape & murder of little Zainab exposes once again how vulnerable our children are in our society." Islamic cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, a political rival of the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League party, "demanded the local government be replaced, saying it has 'no right to remain in power after the killing of Zainab Ansari. Kiran Naz, a Samaa TV news anchor, hosted a 10 January bulletin with her young daughter on her lap as an act of protest. At the Sindh Assembly, artist celebrities Ayesha Omer, Nadia Hussain, Faysal Qureshi and others met on 12 January with Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza, demanding laws and justice to prevent such tragedies in the future. Mahira Khan, Ali Zafar, Imran Abbas, Mawra Hocane, and

Saba Qamar Saba Qamar Zaman (born 5 April 1984), known professionally as Saba Qamar, is a Pakistani actress who works predominantly in Urdu films and television. She has won several accolades including Lux Style Awards and Hum Awards. Qamar is one of Pak ...

, as well as former cricket players Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar tweeted about the incident, condemning the brutal rape and murder, while also trending the hashtag #JusticeforZainab.

Arrest

Shehbaz Sharif announced the arrest of a suspect, Imran Ali, in a press conference on 23 January 2018. He confirmed that polygraph tests and the DNA of the suspect matched with the samples of at least eight minor girls, including Ansari, who were raped and murdered within the same neighbourhood. Ali was a 24-year-old mechanic who lived in Ansari's neighbourhood, and further investigations disclosed that he had even taken part in the protests following the discovery of Ansari's body. Police also found the jacket worn by the suspect, which was seen in the

footage showing Ansari just before she disappeared. Ali eventually confessed to having committed the serial rapes and murders.

Sentencing

On 17 February 2018, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore Central Jail found Ali guilty for the rape and murder of Ansari and twelve other underage girls. The court handed him four counts of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, one

life term Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

, a seven-year jail term and in fines. He was executed by hanging on 17 October 2018 at 05:30 local time.

Zainab Alert Bill

In 2020, the Parliament of Pakistan passed the ''Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Act, 2019'', colloquially known as the Zainab Alert Bill, named after Ansari. The bill outlines various systems designed to improve the country's responses to missing child cases.

References

External links

Samaa TV Zainab murder suspect’s confessional video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansari, Zainab 2010s crimes in Punjab, Pakistan 2010s trials 2018 in Punjab, Pakistan 2018 murders in Pakistan Deaths by person in Pakistan January 2018 crimes in Asia January 2018 events in Pakistan Female murder victims Formerly missing people Kasur District Kidnappings in Pakistan Missing person cases in Pakistan Murder in Punjab, Pakistan Murder trials Protests in Pakistan Rape in Pakistan Rape in the 2010s Rape trials Trials in Pakistan Incidents of violence against girls Violence against women in Pakistan Child murder in Pakistan