HOPE dies every day in Pakistan. In 2015, Kasur’s child sex scandal — a child pornography ring in Hussain Khanwala district had sexually exploited 285 minors — rocked the nation. On Wednesday — eight years after mass repulsion, protests and an HRCP fact-finding report, which stated that police inaction pointed towards collusion with criminals and found the role of political parties “very disturbing” — the Lahore High Court acquitted three convicts serving life sentences in the child abuse case. Their counsel said that out of six prime suspects, three had been released earlier and the remaining have been exonerated now. He claimed that they were not “conclusively identified” in the forensic tests of the video, the Anti-Terrorism Act sections were not applicable and medical reports did not corroborate the evidence. So, the moral of this story is an old one: the victims were betrayed by police and prosecution.

What should have happened after the horror unfolded was an immediate review of the law-enforcement plan to prevent feeble investigation and forensic inquiry by police. Moreover, prosecutors should have the legal authority to ensure that probes are executed according to the requirements of a case. And, as the agency taking the police’s case to the courts, it should become mandatory for prosecutors to keep a record of their work for solid cases to be presented before lower legal fora. Ravaged by corruption and exploitation, police and prosecution, when representing the poor, either end up aiding criminals in hoodwinking the justice system or punish the innocent. To make matters dire, despite repeated incidents of monstrous abuse, the system remains untouched by any reform. The question is: as the progeny of hapless daily wagers, are Kasur’s victims easier to overlook? Children, sans expression, authority and support to face abusers, form the most vulnerable section of society. For this reason, provincial and federal authorities must work harder to banish the curse of stolen innocence.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2023