Minor ‘rape victim’ found dead in Mamoun Kanjan

Police say boy had gone missing on March 11

DIJKOT:

A missing boy was found dead allegedly after sexual assault in Mamoun Kanjan, Punjab by Rescue 1122 officials after a prolonged search on Sunday evening.

The police shifted the body to a hospital for autopsy.

The family of the victim had lodged a complaint on March 11 at the local police station that the 12-year-old boy had gone missing.

Allah Ditta, the father of the victim, had reportedly sent him to his friend Shahid Mahmood’s home in the Chak No. 509GB Tambakuwalan. He stated that the minor boy was playing outside the home when he was kidnapped by unidentified people. “When the boy did not return home, my relatives and I searched the nearby areas but could not find him. We immediately went to the police station and filed a complaint,” he said.

An FIR regarding the missing child was registered by the police. Mamoun Kanjan Police Station SHO Sub-Inspector Naeem Alamuddin said that after the abduction of the child, the police registered a case under section 363 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of his father. “We detained Shahid Mehmood and Zeeshan Manzoor on suspicion. Upon interrogation, Zeeshan conceded that he had raped the minor boy,” the official said.

Read More: Doctor, three technicians remanded for ‘raping woman’

Manzoor reportedly revealed that after kidnapping the 12-year-old, he took the minor to his outhouse and raped him. The boy made a noise and told him that he would tell everything to his parents. “So I strangled him out of fear and threw his body near Saim Nullah under Lal Tehrana Bridge,” the suspect reportedly told the police.

According to a police spokesperson, Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh, Khanewal and Sahiwal police took help from Rescue 1122 personnel for the search of the body after the confession of the suspect that he had been strangled to death after being raped. Rescue 1122 personnel conducted a search operation to find the body of the child.

A rescue official said the body of the assaulted child was dumped in a canal. There has been no let-up in incidents of sexual violence against minors across the province. Earlier this month, a teenage girl and a minor boy were allegedly sexually assaulted in Khurrianwala. The 16-year-old girl was alone at home when the suspect identified as Asif Awan entered the house. He held the teenage girl at gunpoint and subjected her to sexual abuse.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2021.