A man accused of raping three-year-old girl confessed to his crime in a judicial magistrate’s court, Superintendent of Police (SP) Investigation Sanaullah Khan confirmed on Tuesday.
A medical report confirmed that the minor was raped by accused Muhammad Hammad who was sent to jail on judicial remand.
The man a self-employed garbage collector had coaxed the child into accompanying him into an under-construction site by offering her sweets on Thursday, January 18, 2018.
The rapist attempted to escape the crime scene but was roughed up by citizens after the three-year-old girl's calls for help were heard by passersby.
Hammad, who originally belongs to Pak Pattan, was living in a rented accommodation in Nowshera for the past five years.
The case is one of the numerous incidents of child abuse and murder that have been highlighted in the media after the recent rape and murder cases of two minors Aasma and Zainab sparked widespread condemnation as well as calls to address the issue of child sexual abuse.
According to reports in the media, Aimaan Fatima, Fauzia, Noor Fatima, Sana, Asma and Laiba were among minors kidnapped from the suburbs of Kasur in 2017 and whose dead bodies were later recovered from different parts of the city.
According to the latest numbers released by Sahil, an organisation that works on child protection with a special focus on sexual abuse, a total of 1,764 cases of child abuse were reported from across the country in the first six months of 2017 alone.
In the previous year, the total number of reported child abuse cases stood at a staggering 4,139, bringing the total number of children being abused in Pakistan per day to 11.
The shocking numbers bring to attention the failure of law enforcement agencies in Pakistan, particularly Punjab, in apprehending these criminals and curbing a plague that seems to have taken hold of our society.
According to data from Sahil, out of the total cases of child abuse from January to June 2017, 62 percent were reported from Punjab.
27 percent of cases reported were from Sindh province, while 76, 58, 42, and nine cases reported from Balochistan, FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir respectively.
The number of cases reported from rural areas amounted to 74 percent, while the number of cases reported from urban areas increased by 10 percent as compared to the comparable period in 2016.
Last year, a 17 percent decrease was reported in child abuse cases as compared to the previous year. From January to June, a total of 1,764 cases of child abuse were reported as compared to the 2,127 cases for the same period in 2016.
Of the total reported cases of sexual abuse in the first six months of 2017, 45 percent of the cases were committed by acquaintances, while another 17 percent of the horrific crimes were carried out by acquaintances and strangers.
Strangers were found responsible for 15 percent of all cases reported in the first six months of 2017.
Of all cases, 15 percent of the crimes were committed at the victim's own place, while 12 percent were said to have taken place at an acquaintance’s place.
A shocking revelation in the report states that a 100 percent increase in child abuse by landlords was observed in 2017.
The brutal rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab in Kasur and four-year-old Aasma in Mardan have highlighted the deep-rooted issue of sexual abuse.
As many as 11 cases of child sexual abuse are reported from across Pakistan every day, according to data collected by non-governmental organisation Sahil.
Even in Kasur which became the center of a massive child abuse case in 2014 and 2015 the rape and murders of 12 minor girls, all aged between five to eight years, have been reported in the past twelve months.
