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Today's Paper | November 16, 2024

Published 18 Mar, 2015 03:57pm

10-year-old boy allegedly raped, strangled in Gujranwala

GUJRANWALA: The body of a 10-year-old boy who was abducted yesterday was recovered here on Wednesday. The minor was allegedly raped before being strangled to death.

According to the victim's family, the 10-year-old stepped out of his house to buy some things when men kidnapped him from within the remit of the Baghbanpura police station in Habibullah town area.

After searching for him in vain, the victim's family informed police who were unable to trace his recovery.

His body was then found in the fields early today morning.

Examine: Three-year-old boy sexually assaulted in Bannu

Police arrived at the scene and shifted the body to a hospital for a postmortem. Further investigation into the incident is underway.

Rape is notoriously difficult to prosecute in Pakistan. In April 2011, the Supreme Court had upheld the acquittal of five men sentenced to death in Pakistan's most famous rape case, that of Mukhtar Mai.

Mai was gang raped in 2002 on the orders of a village council as punishment, after her brother, who was aged just 12 at the time, was accused of having illicit relations with a woman from a rival clan.

A local court had sentenced six men to death, but a higher court acquitted five of them in March 2005, and commuted the sentence for the main accused, Abdul Khaliq, to life imprisonment.

Director Mohammed Naqvi,and British producer Jamie Doran's film Pakistan’s Hidden Shame depicts the shocking reality of sexual abuse faced by small boys in the Northern areas of Pakistan.

The documentary premiered on September 1 on Britain's Channel 4 and shows the "dark reality of a society living in denial."

Set mainly in Peshawar, the film shows homeless boys of different ages recalling their experiences of sexual exploitation.

In the documentary, the narrator introduces Pakistan as 'one of the most important Muslim populations, a democracy, a nuclear power and a supporter of the Western bloc.' But it soon reveals the silence and denial on one of the most taboo topics: pedophilia.

The documentary alleges that 9 out of 10 children in Peshawar have been victims of pedophilia. It also contains interviews with truck drivers who have committed such crimes.

Shockingly, one of the drivers admits, without any remorse, to having raped 11 or 12 boys.

Take a look: Pakistan’s Hidden Shame: Documentary reveals horrors of pedophilia in K-P

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