A nine-year old special needs child was found raped and murdered in Karachi’s Korangi area on Saturday, following which police detained two people for investigation, according to police and hospital officials.

Zaman Town police said the body of the child was recovered from the rear seat of a parked Suzuki Cultus car. The body was bluish and foaming from mouth.

The corpse was shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre to ascertain the cause of death.

Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said that the victim was differently abled child with a right hand deformity. “There were multiple injuries all over the body and findings are suggestive of anal sexual abuse,” said the surgeon.

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The lips were deeply congested and oral swabs have also been collected. There was a reddish froth on nasal openings.

“The cause of death and final opinion regarding sexual assault is kept reserved till reports of chemical analysis, semen serology and DNA,” said Dr Syed.

Korangi-SSP, Sajid Amir Sadozai told Dawn.com that in their preliminary findings, the doctors confirmed murder after rape but they were waiting for the final report.

The senior officer said that the boy’s body was recovered from the rear seat of the car at a car park. Zaman Town police have collected evidence, he added. The Cultus car has also been impounded for investigation.

SSP Sadozai said that the car’s owner and watchman of the parking stand have been taken into custody for investigation.

“The police have launched an investigation after registering of an FIR and the beast will be arrested soon,” he added.

Unsafe children

This is just the latest case of deadly sexual violence in the metropolis.

Early this month, a six-year-old girl was raped and murdered in the Bin Qasim area of the metropolis, triggering protests from locals. Two suspects, said to be neighbours of the girl, were taken into custody.

Autopsy findings were consistent with violent vaginal and anal intercourse.

In November last year, a teenage boy was raped and murdered in the city’s Bahadurabad area.

The police, while confirming the incident, had said that “an unidentified and tortured body of a child was found near the Alamgir Hospital”. It was later moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate and Medical Centre for legal proceedings.

In 2022, more than 500 women and girls were subjected to sexual assault.

The shocking figures were compiled with the help of record of medico-legal officers posted at the three major hospitals of the metropolis — the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH).