LAHORE: Statistics on paedophilia highlight a depressing reality that boys and girls under 10 years were the main target of criminals across Punjab.

The official figures hold significance amid reports about the arrest of the serial killer in Kasur. The detailed report on sex crime committed against children was submitted by the Punjab government to the Supreme Court a few days ago.

According to the statistics, 137 girls were raped and 515 boys (under 10 years in both cases) sodomised in Punjab in 2017. The figures show 15 girls and 10 boys (under 10 years) were brutally murdered after rape.

The highly disturbing fact in the police analysis is that the sex offenders’ target remained children who could hardly resist assault.

The report highlights failure of the criminal justice system in the form of pathetically low conviction rate. Of the 137 cases lodged against the criminals all over the province for raping minor girls in 2017, none of them was convicted despite being arrested by police.

The preparation of such a report was necessitated by the recent rape-murder of Zainab and seven other girls of Kasur city. It says most girls were raped and killed in this one region last year. Twenty incidents were reported in Sheikhupura region, 19 in Gujranwala region, 18 in DG Khan region, 14 in Sargodha region, 12 in Sahiwal region, 11 in Multan region and 10 in Bahawalnagar region.

As for as the crime against boys, the report says, 515 boys under 10 years were sexually assaulted. Gujranwala region had 93 such incidents, DG Khan (68), Sheikhupura (49), Sargodha (46), Bahawalnagar (41), Sahiwal (29) and Faisalabad region reported 28 such incidents.

Lahore also had high crime rate -- 28 boys under 10 years were sexually assaulted in 2017. Of the 515 registered cases, says the report, the accused in two cases were convicted.

The documents further reveal that out of the 15 cases of rape-murder of girls under 10 years, five were reported in Sheikhupura region, two in Lahore and two in Sargodha region.

Similarly, out of 10 incidents of murder of minor boys after sodomy, three occurred in Sheikhupura region and three in Sargodha region, the report says.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2018