13-year-old rape victim gives birth to child in Rajanpur

RAJANPUR: A 13-year-old rape victim gave birth to a child, which will be the sole evidence that will lead the court to the alleged rapist.

A* was raped last year at her Quran teacher’s house. Her father said that his daughter had dropped out of school after class five, but wanted to continue studying. She began working at a house in the neighbourhood where she was also taught how to read the holy Quran.

It was here that 40-year-old Kashif allegedly raped the girl last year.

Not bowing down to the backward traditions of the area, where often such incidents are hushed the victim’s father, a labourer, spoke out.

After finding out that his daughter was pregnant he filed a case in the court. But the accused knew how rape cases work in courts. In the absence of any witnesses there is only circumstantial evidence- the victim’s word against the rapist—which is insufficient for conviction by a court.

It is here that the family made some tough decisions. They decided to bring the unborn child in this world.

The minor girl gave birth on November 17, 2016 following which the local court had ordered a DNA test to determine parenthood.

However, the key accused in the case failed to appear in the court during the last two proceedings.

On Thursday (today) during the hearing the victim failed to present a lawyer in the court. They said they didn’t have the resources to hire one. The judge has given orders for a public prosecutor in the case. The hearing has been adjourned till April 13.

 Speaking to Geo News, the girl’s father vowed to get his daughter justice. “I will kill myself if I fail,” said an emotional father.

“We are poor people. We expect the court to give us justice,” said the victim, cradling her baby in her arm.

Child to prove crucial evidence: HRCP

Amendments in the rape law last year make DNA test for victims mandatory, penalise the police for delaying investigation, and allow victims to testify in court through an in-camera session.

Chairperson Human Rights Commission Pakistan (HRCP) Zohra Yousuf said that in this particular case the child will serve as crucial evidence. “After October 2016 the law makes DNA test compulsory in all rape cases. In this case it should not be difficult to establish a link,” she said.

She adds that since the girl is a minor the alleged rapist cannot establish that they were in a “consensual relationship”.

Rajanpur, a city in south west Punjab is marred by social inequalities where large landowning families live alongside an extremely poor landless population.

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Amazon Fresh To Hit NYC Soon

Always one to be amongst the first to try out new and inventive things, Amazon is having a go at plain old simple grocery shopping and giving it a 21st century revamp! Amazon is starting their grocery delivery service for users, called Amazon Fresh.

The delivery service is only currently available in only a couple of locations, but the overall aim is apparently to take the service to a national level, after first launching it in the city of Seattle and then later expanding it to Los Angeles and San Francisco. A new report now suggests that the Amazon Fresh New York City launch may not be ages away, in fact,  it may even hit NYC by as early as next month.

Re/code reports that Amazon Fresh might go live in New York City by as early as October 2014, (they cited two people who had been briefed on the plans). It seems that Amazon has been collecting a food inventory in a warehouse in Avenel, N.J. (25 miles from Manhattan) with plans to launch the service in October.

There have been rumours that have also claimed Amazon Fresh may yet be expanded to Philadelphia because the company would just use the Avenel warehouse to supply customers who can order both fresh and frozen foods.

The same day delivery is possible on the proviso that the orders are placed before a specific cut-off time in the morning.  Obviously after that a customer who places their order after that time, would receive the goods the next morning.

The service isn’t cheap however and if you want to use Amazon Fresh then you will have to pay $299 per annum for a Prime Fresh account.  The account includes same day or next day grocery delivery and also delivery on a massive collection of other products such as gadgets, toys and books.

As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.

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Amazon smartphone release date, price and specs: glasses-free 3D phone set to launch imminently

If the rumours and leaks are to be believed, Amazon is preparing to launch its first smartphone. Here's everything there is to know about its release date, price and features.

Amazon has had relative success with its range of Kindle Fire tablets, and the new smartphone will undoubtedly use the company's Fire operating system, which is a highly customised version of Google Android. See also: 28 best smartphones: The best phone you can buy in 2014

It might look like many other smartphones today, but the latest image from BGR shows a front-facing camera placed at each corner of the screen. These will track your eyes to monitor exactly where they're looking and adjust the image on-screen to provide a "3D" experience without the need for any special glasses.

Previous to the image above, which Amazon is said to have been working on for years, the only photo of the upcoming device was of a phone in a shell case which prevented the design from being seen. If the image above, which is a rendering created by Amazon's graphic designers, is genuinely of the finished product, then it will look like a lot of existing Android phones. It's something of a cross between the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC's smartphones.

Amazon is reportedly working on at least two smartphones with a cheaper budget handset supposedly launching after the 3D model which we're looking at here.

Amazon smartphone: Release date

Many sources say Amazon will unveil the smartphone in June, which means it could be just days away. Production is thought to have begun with an initial order of 600,000 devices with Japan Display being one of the main component manufacturers.

However, although the device could be revealed this month, reports suggests that the handset won't hit the shops until September.

Amazon smartphone: Price

There's no word on a price yet for the Amazon smartphone but it's likely that, following on from the Kindle Fire tablets, it will sell the device at an affordable price point – somewhere in the mid-range seems most probable.

Don't expect the handset to be too budget friendly given the advanced retina-tracking technology. BGR reports that the Amazon smartphone will be initially available in the US only.

Amazon smartphone: Specs

With the BGR leak, we've got some details on the smartphone such as a reported 4.7in screen with a 720p HD resolution. It will also be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and have 2GB of RAM.

The four front-facing cameras use infrared according to BGR's sources, and have a VGA (640x480 resolution). These will all accurately track your retina movements and result in a glasses-free 3D effect which is being likened to a hologram.

"Since the 3D interface is the phone’s biggest point of differentiation, Amazon has tried to use its new technology in as many areas as possible. In fact, right from the start on the lock screen, Amazon’s new phone will include several special wallpapers with perspectives that shift as the user tilts the phone from side to side as well as up and down." says BGR.

This will extend to app icons and other parts of the interface and even Amazon's stores for digital content. "By shifting the position of the phone, users are able to see three-dimensional product images at different angles to reveal surfaces that cannot be seen in 2D photos."

It's camera-tastic since there will also be the usual front and rear cameras for taking photos and videos. The main camera is set to be 13Mp and the front is thought to be not far behind at a whopping 12Mp.

The Fire OS software will obviously need modifying to add phone and text messaging functions, but we expect it to look very similar to the version which runs on the Kindle Fire tablets.

As more information arrives, we’ll update this article to let you know. Until then, let us know what you think of the Amazon smartphone in the comments below.

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