SAHIWAL: Three youths allegedly raped a class-IX student, recorded the video on mobile phones and blackmailed him in Pakpattan.

City Police booked the three suspects, residents of Bahiwala and Inamabad areas of Pakpattan and Malka Hans, under PPC 376 (iii), following a complaint by the father of the victim boy. Two of them have been arrested while one is still at large.

Reports said the 9th-grade student, a resident of Mohalla Inamabad, was befriended by his neighbour boy, one of the suspects, on social media. Their friendship developed through meetings at a local Shwarma shop because both are from the same locality. On Aug 22, the boy asked the victim to accompany him to Malka Hans on his bike. The victim initially refused but he was made to sit on the bike by another suspect.

According to the FIR, the victim resisted but was threatened with a pistol and taken to the third suspect’s house in Malka Hans where the three suspects raped him and recorded it on a mobile phone. The perpetrators later dropped the victim at his home, warning him not to tell anyone or face consequences.

A week later, the suspects began blackmailing him, demanding money with threats to make the video viral. The boy was raped multiple times by the suspects and he gave them Rs80,000.

The victim told police that he had to steal from his father’s wallet and sold his mobile phone to meet their demands. When he could no longer fulfill their monetary demands, he told his father about it and a complaint was made to the City Police.

Speaking to Dawn over the phone, the father disclosed that the gang had exploited many children. He asked the parents of other children to come forward as the gang had videos of more than two dozen children.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2024