BAHAWALNAGAR: Scores of people on Friday blocked the Minchinabad-Head Sulemanki Highway at McLeod Ganj for about three hours in protest against police over their failure to take action against rapists and murderers of a seven-year-old boy.

The protesters including the grieved family kept the body of the child on road and accused police of protecting the perpetrators.

The McLeod Ganj police recovered the bruised and rotting corpse of the boy from Basti Dewan Shahzad from nearby fields.

Minchinabad DSP Syed Ali Raza told Dawn that Akhtar and Saleem kidnapped the child from Sunday market and took him to nearby fields where they raped and then killed him and buried the body there. On the complaint of the father, police launched manhunt and with the help of a CCTV footage of a petrol pump near the Sunday market, they arrested Saleem and Akhtar.

During investigation, the two men confessed to raping and killing the child. Saifullah, the child’s father, told journalists that when he approached the police to help him find his missing child, the officials advised him to look for him on his own. Disheartened by the behaviour of police, he said, he complained to Bahawalnagar DPO two days ago after which police sprang into action.

The DSP and SP (Investigation) Naeemul Haq came there to negotiate with the protesters who insisted that they would continue protest until the arrest of Dewan Pir Shahzad Ahmed Chishti, a local landlord whose employees committed the horrendous crime. The protesters finally dispersed on the police assurance of action against the perpetrators.

District Police Officer Ammara Athar said she was grieved over the incident and would leave no stone unturned to provide justice to the family.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2019