KARACHI: The seven-year-old Sarim – who went missing 11 days ago – found dead in an underground water-tank in Northern Karachi on Saturday.
The boy went missing on Jan 7, when he went to a Madrassah for lessons but never made home. Her family reportedly received a ransom call for his release.
Sarim’s abduction came to the surface when his family posted a video to social media, requesting the authorities concerned to recover their missing child.
The video went viral on social media, with netizens calling upon the Karachi administration and Sindh government to recover the child at the earliest and deal with the child abductors mafia with iron hands.
The viral video also caught the attention of Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori, who visited the Sarim’s family, assuring his mother that her son will be recovered very soon.
However, the authorities failed in recovering the child, whose body was recovered today from a water tank when a valve man peeped into the tank to know about source of the bad smell in the water.
According to locals, the water tank was without a proper cover; it was covered with a cardboard piece.
However, the police have yet to determine how the boy went into the water tank; whether he fell by accident, pushed into it, or thrown there after death.
One thing was made clear by the family and police that the boy was not found in the tank when they were searching for him the day he went missing.
Locals claimed that the body was fresh when recovered from the tank with no visible signs of torture or molestation.
While the police were reluctant in making any conclusive comments about the cause of death before the post-mortem. They said that relevant clues and samples have been collected from the site, while the body has been sent for a post-mortem.
Contrary to the local’s claims, the police said that there are multiple injuries on the Sarim’s body, including one on his neck. Due to the presence of these injuries, the police are handling the incident as a homicide.
“The neck injury neck, suggests that it is not an accidental death,” Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told media.
Two days ago, Punjab police arrested a man accused of raping and killing a four-year-old girl in Khohar village of Sarai Alamgir, Gujrat district.
According to victim’s parents, the minor girl and her seven-year-old brother left their home for tuition on January 5, but she never returned.
The parents reported her missing to Sarai Alamgir Police Station, which filed a kidnapping report under Section 363 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against unknown individuals.
However, the prime suspect arrested by the police escaped police custody and was found dead on Friday under mysterious circumstances.
According to a report published at HUM News English, Pakistan has witnessed a staggering 33 per cent increase in child sexual abuse cases over the past six years, with more than 26,000 children falling victim to these heinous crimes.
On average, 13 children are subjected to sexual abuse daily, underscoring a national crisis that demands immediate attention.