SUKKUR: Family members, relatives and sympathisers of a teenage boy, who was allegedly subjected to sexual assault before being killed by members of an influential gang in Madina Colony, staged a sit-in by placing the boy’s body on the main road outside the local police station late on Wednesday evening.

The protesters received body of the 13-year-old victim from the civil hospital where police had shifted it for a post mortem and placed it before C-Section police station in protest against police failure in arresting the accused involved in the assualt and killing.

They raised slogans against the police’s delay in taking action against the criminals and registering FIR against them.

The father of the victim told media persons that the criminals had called his son to their guest house and killed him most probably after subjecting him to sexual assault. “My son had been complaining to the family about constant sexual harassment by his tormentors,” he said, adding the influential gang had only targeted his son.

He said the gang had threatened the family not to report the incident to anyone, else, they would face dire consequences. The gang was pressurising residents of the area and their children not to speak about the assualt and gruesome murder of the innocent boy, otherwise, they would mete out the same treatment to their children as well, he said.

The protesters appealed to Sindh chief minister, IGP, Sukkur DIG and SSP to take notice the grave incident and bring the boy’s killers to justice.

The protesters ended their demonstration after police officials led by SSP Abid Ali Baloch held out assurance of a thorough investigation into the murder and bring the outlaws to the book.

Police officials said that on a complaint lodged by the victim’s father, they had lodged an FIR against the suspects —Yaseen Napar, Khalid Soomro and Khadim Soomro — under relevant sections of murder, rape and other relevant offences.

They said that police had arrested the nominated suspect Yaseen Napar and Khalid Soomro and started interrogating them about the heinious incident took palce in the guest house.

They had written a letter to the authority concerned to submit medical report and send samples of the victim’s body to a laboratory for chemical examination.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2024