British MP Rupert Low has reignited the debate over Britain’s “grooming gang” scandal during his speech in parliament. During his speech, he read out statements from the victims. He told Parliament that the whole world needs to hear the details that have emerged from a two-week investigation into this gang of rapists.
He alleged that one victim, aged between 13 and 16, was raped by 600 to 700 different men. Low said there were signs of organized sexual exploitation of children in at least 85 areas of Britain. The statements read out in parliament included allegations of gang rape, violence, intimidation and racial abuse.
A statement said one victim was drugged and then passed around to several people; He was kept in a cage. Another victim alleged that whenever she protested, she was threatened with death and warned that her family would be harmed. Rupert Low declared, “We can no longer remain silent on these matters.” Last August, Low said that the men involved in these rape scandals were predominantly of Pakistani origin; He said that these gangs had been active for decades and their numbers were much higher than current estimates.
The MP described the personal experiences of several rape victims – five specific cases:
According to Low’s speech in Parliament, one victim said: “The accused pulled down his pants and raped me. Then, he picked up an empty bottle, forced it into my private parts, and broke the bottle while it was still inside.” At that time, she was about 12 or 13 years old.
Lo shared the story of another victim, who said: “The men threw me on the ground and took turns raping me, while also squeezing my hands and legs. They repeatedly beat me and threatened to kill me – and said they would harm my family if I told anyone about what happened.”
During the investigation, one victim testified: “The accused repeatedly made comments that they considered white, Christian girls to be of low moral standard or inferior.” Some of those men described Muslim girls as respectable and having high moral values. By doing so, they tried to justify their treatment of us.
Recounting another woman’s story, a British MP claimed that the accused who raped her was a police officer. Her testimony said: “I was raped by police officers in different parts of the country.”
One victim testified: “It started when I was 13. Over the course of three years, I was raped by about six or seven hundred different men.” According to one victim, when she went to the hospital and narrated her ordeal to the staff, they did not ask any questions; Instead, they simply gave him medicine and discharged him.
**What is a ‘grooming gang’—and why are most of its members of Pakistani origin?**
In Britain, the term ‘grooming gang’ is commonly used to describe cases that involve the sexual exploitation or abuse of children and teenagers. The term gained prominence following investigations in towns such as Rotherham, Rochdale and Oldham. Since the 1990s, thousands of victims have come forward in connection with a number of such cases. A special feature of these cases was that most of the accused were of Pakistani origin. Perpetrators usually begin by gaining the trust of their victims, and then exploit them through threats, violence, drugs, or blackmail.
In 2002, the then Labor MP Ann Cryer first warned that a gang of men of Pakistani origin were exploiting girls in Keighley, West Yorkshire. In 2010, five men were convicted of sexually abusing underage girls in Rotherham. Subsequent investigations revealed that organized gangs existed in several other towns as well as Rotherham, including Rochdale, Oldham, Telford and Oxford.
