LAHORE: A minor boy who was injured during a sexual assault in Sherakot succumbed to his injuries at the Children’s Hospital on Sunday.

The family and relatives of the deceased kept the body on the road at Babu Sabu interchange and blocked traffic during their protest. The blockade created trouble in the area where motorists remained stuck for hours.

One of the protesters, Irfan Ali said police had arrested suspect within 24 hours of the incident but they wanted speedy trial. “Had the serial killer of children in Kasur been properly penalised, this incident would not have occurred,” he said.

The protesters demanded that the chief justice of Pakistan and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar take notice of the incident.

The elder sister of the nine-year-old boy demanded immediate public hanging of the perpetrator.

Police said the child, along with other siblings, went to take bath at a nearby tubewell and the suspect lured him to a deserted place in the garden he was hired to look after. The suspect raped the child and slit his throat on resistance.

The area people after hearing the screams of the boy rushed to the spot and found him in a pool of blood. The child succumbed to the injuries three days after the incident.

The Sherakot police registered a case under terrorism charges and arrested the suspect.

Earlier, SSP Investigation Awais Malik said the suspect was involved in many cases of sexual assault and he confessed to committing crime with five to six children, killing one of them in January. Back then police registered a case against unidentified killer(s) under sections 302, 363 and 377 of PPC.

The case was referred to the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) police who could not arrest the suspect despite DNA tests of around 200 suspects.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2018