A 15-year-old boy was kept in illegal confinement and sexually assaulted over the course of four days by four men in Rawalpindi's Razzaq Town, police said on Tuesday.

A first information report (FIR) of the incident was registered at Naseerabad police station after the grade 10 student managed to flee from captivity today and described his ordeal to his father. Police have arrested all four suspects nominated by the victim in his complaint.

The teenaged boy, a resident of Chakra Road, in his complaint stated that he had gone out of his house at around 8pm on January 19 when a man talked him [the victim] into accompanying him to his baithak (guesthouse), located nearby.

Once the duo reached the baithak, three men who were already present there confined the 15-year-old to a room and warned that he would be killed if he tried to escape.

Three of the suspects then repeatedly raped the boy over the course of four days, while the fourth was also present at the scene. Two of the men would hold the boy, while the third would subject the teenager to rape, the FIR read.

The victim told DawnNews that the four men tortured him when he resisted the sexual assault and did not give him anything to eat or drink.

He said he managed to escape from confinement when all four suspects were asleep.

SP Potohar Division Syed Mohammad Ali told DawnNews a police team constituted soon after the victim approached the police had arrested all four suspects who allegedly assaulted the child.

Cases have been registered against the suspects on charges relating to kidnapping, illegal confinement and sodomy. The suspects, who were all labourers between the ages of 18 and 25, will be presented before a court on Wednesday, the SP said.

An initial medical examination of the teenager had confirmed that he was sexually assaulted, he said, adding that a lab in Lahore has been contacted for a DNA test.

Since the beginning of 2018, there has been a marked upsurge in the reporting of sexual abuse cases across Pakistan. The brutal rape and murder of Zainab Ansari in Kasur earlier this month in particular shocked the entire country, with #JusticeforZainab becoming the rallying cry in a nationwide drive to end violence against children.