DERA GHAZI KHAN: Kot Chhuta police claimed to have arrested a man who allegedly raped and severely tortured a nursery class student, who later succumbed to his injuries at hospital on Monday.

According to police, the minor, Jawal, son of Lal Deen Musa Khail, a resident of Mana Ahmedani village, went to school where he was in nursery class.

When he did not return from the school at the usual time, his parents got worried and started looking for him. He was later found lying critically injured in a field near the village.

He was rushed to Kot Chhuta Tehsil Headquarters Hospital where doctors after examining the minor boy told his parents that he was also sexually assaulted.

He was shifted to the trauma centre of the teaching hospital of the Ghazi Medical College, where he succumbed to his injuries.

District Police Officer Muhammed Ali Waseem told Dawn that the suspect had been arrested and he confessed his crime. He added that the suspects DNA test would be conducted to prepare a strong case against him in the court for his conviction.

As per police sources, the suspect is a neighbour of the victim and a former guard at the school the minor boy attended.

The sources say that in his confessional statement the suspect said he kidnapped the minor, subjected him to rape and then hit the child with a brick and an iron rod to kill him to conceal the heinous crime.

Kot Chhuta police had earlier registered a case against an “unidentified” suspect under sections 337, 367-A and 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on charges of kidnap, rape and torture.

However, the police said that after the minor’s death and the suspect’s arrest and his confession, other relevant sections would be added to the FIR.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2022