Child abuse cases: Report says murder of one child every month in Punjab

LAHORE: An analysis of police records since 2017 shows that on average three cases of rape or abuse of children under 10 years of age have been reported on a daily basis in Punjab province with murder of one child every month.

During this period, a total of 2,841 child sexual abuse cases were registered with Punjab Police across 36 districts of the province and nine regions under its administrative control.

Besides this, the total number of murders was reported as 40. The News analysis also shows that in terms of overall child abuse cases Gujranwala region recorded the most 519 cases while Sheikhupura region (which includes Kasur district) recorded most of the murders i.e., 10 since 2017.

The official data available with The News shows that at least 13 girls under the age of 10 years were killed after rape in Punjab in 2017 while nine boys were murdered the same year after abuse. The next year a total of 14 children lost their lives, including 7-year old Zainab in Kasur district, in early 2018.

Kasur district was in the limelight after this particular incident that had attracted much public attention due to violent protests in the district. The government was forced to come into action using all available resources to solve the mystery surrounding the murder of the innocent girl after rape. With the help of CCTV footage and DNA matching, police were able to nab the killer who was executed the same year. It is considered one of the swift cases Punjab Police solved in many years.

Since January this year four children have been killed in child abuse cases in Punjab--the largest province of the country in terms of population. The province is divided into nine administrative divisions and 36 districts. There are nine police regions in the province while provincial metropolis, Lahore, is considered Capital City District with CCPO as head of the city’s police force.

The analysis of data shows that all these years Gujranwala region with 519 rape and abuse cases left other regions behind. Gujranwala is followed by Lahore region with 388 cases, Sheikhupura 371, Dera Ghazi Khan 338, Bahawalpur 294, Faisalabad 252, Multan 244, Sahiwal 187, Rawalpindi 129 and Sargodha 119 cases.

The News studied at least 10 different murder cases in detail with the help of police FIRs and media reports which showed that in most cases the children went missing in the afternoon when they left homes to play.

Of the total murders of children vis-à-vis child abuse cases since 2017, Sheikhupura region which includes Kasur district recorded most of the murders i.e., 10 followed by Lahore 7, Gujranwala 6, Faisalabad 5, Sargodha 4, Multan 3, Sahiwal 2, Bahawalpur 2 and Rawalpindi 1.

Only Dera Ghazi Khan region which comprises Dera Ghazi Khan district, Muzaffargarh, Layyah and Rajanpur did not record a single murder during these years though the number of child abuse cases registered in the district was 338.

In terms of percentage of total murders vis-à-vis total incidents Sargodha region is on the top with three per cent murders of the incidents of child abuse taking place in the region. Similarly, though Gujranwala region is on the top with maximum number of incidents, it is at the bottom in terms of percentage of murders i.e., one per cent.

In 2017 Gujranwala region, comprising six districts, there were at least 242 incidents of rape and child abuse reported, including the murder of a boy.

Out of six districts of Gujranwala region, Gujranwala district topped with 105 cases of rape and child abuse, followed by Sialkot with 58 incidents, Hafizabad 28, Mandi Bahauddin 21 incidents while Gujrat and Narowal recorded 15 incidents each.

Similarly, in 2018 again Gujranwala region recorded maximum, 221, cases of rape and abuse with minors, including murder of two boys.

In the region, Gujranwala district topped the other remaining districts with 97 incidents and it was followed by Sialkot with 44 incidents, Hafizabad 23, Narowal 22, Gujrat 21 and Mandi Bahauddin 14.

In the first four months of the current year till April 10, Gujranwala region topped the other regions with 56 cases, followed by Sheikhupura with 41 incidents, Bahawalpur 40, Faisalabad 36, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan 32 each.

Gujranwala Regional Police Officer (RPO) Tariq Abbas Qureshi talking to The News admitted that his region topped the other police regions in the reporting of child abuse cases. He said this heinous crime was still underreported due to certain factors including settling down the issue at home.

Tariq Abbas Qureshi cited poor supervision of parents as a major factor of child abuse, adding that quick police response could also help avoid such incidents. He also said he had been focusing on the proper investigation of the cases in his region to increase conviction rate. To elaborate, he said collection of DNA and other forensic evidences were compulsory for investigation officers who had also been imparted training for evidence collection.

To a question about the establishment of separate investigation cells for child abuse cases like homicide cell and gender cell, Qureshi said though currently there was no separate unit for it, he had specifically given SOPs to all district police officers of his region and to CPO Gujranwala for resolving such cases on a priority basis.

The RPO also admitted the fact that the department had not conducted any research to investigate the increasing ratio of this crime. He said some of the people related it to internet child pornography but in-depth study was needed to unearth all factors and subsequent response.

He, however, added that he had launched a dedicated helpline 8440 in his region so that victims especially women and parents of victim children could directly report the crime at his office. He said the control room of this helpline received 25-30 calls on average on a daily basis and over 95 per cent complaints were resolved without any delay.

Lahore DIG Investigations Dr Inam Waheed said it was observed that around 90 per cent of the complainants withdrew cases under social pressure. “As most of the complainants belong to low strata of society, they easily come under the pressure of notables of the area and pardon the accused person,” he added.

“However, once a case is highlighted, the accused person could not escape proper prosecution and execution,” he said while stressing the role of media in constant follow-ups of the investigations so the rapist could not escape justice.