KASUR: As a child, Imran Ali, now convicted of raping and killing a minor girl of Kasur, was raped and abused. The atrocity ended when he was a grown up. People are not criminal by birth; it is the society that transforms a man into criminal.

Kasur District Police Officer (DPO) Zahid Marwat said this at a meeting with lawyers, traders, ulema and journalists at the Kasur Police Lines on Tuesday. The meeting was called to sensitise people on the pitfalls of child abuse.

The DPO said as Imran was being punished for his crimes, those who exploited him should also be penalised for their acts.

Imran was sentenced to death for raping and killing Zainab Amin, 7, by an anti-terrorism court judge last month. His appeal against the verdict is under trial in the Lahore High Court.

The incident of Zainab occurred in January this year. Before that 12 minor girls and boys had been killed after rape in the last one year in the Kasur city.

Imran was arrested on Jan 23, after DNA profiling tests of over 1,100 people. He was a mason.

The DPO said Kasur had been in spotlight for child abuse cases for quite sometime and in some cases, the accused were 45 to 55 years old. He said people needed to work collectively to bring about reforms in society.

Participants said society needed to break taboos and hold open discussions on such issues. They demanded that a crackdown be launched against the shops selling obscene footage.

A police official, requesting anonymity, said that Imran had disclosed several names who had abused him when he was a child. He was traded for sex by barbers.

REMAND: A man was sent to the district jail on judicial remand after he was charged with the rape of a woman.

According to police, the suspect and his two accomplices allegedly subjected a woman to sexual assault at Pattoki and made a video of the crime.

Later, according to the complainant, the suspect uploaded the video on internet. The police had arrested the suspect some two weeks back and sent the samples of his DNA for profiling to forensic lab after the medical report of the victim confirmed rape.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2018