LAHORE: Initial medical report of a three-year-old girl, who went missing on Thursday and was later found unconscious, confirmed she was sexually assaulted in Mariam Colony of Green Town, police said on Friday.

Police said the report confirmed rape and that the culprit was on the run. Green Town police said the minor had been found in a field near her house after a few hours of going missing.

Township ASP Muhammad Iqbal told Dawn the police initially registered a kidnap case on the complaint of the girl's father and later inserted the rape clause in it. He said police had obtained the suspect's sketch with the help of the family and constituted teams to arrest him.

Police said the girl had been allegedly kidnapped by an unidentified man while she and her siblings were asleep outside their house on a greenbelt. Her family went inside for Sehr leaving the children sleeping. When the family returned, they found her missing and alerted police. After a few hours she was found unconscious in fields nearby and shifted to hospital.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and sought a report from the police.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2014