Two men were arrested in Punjab’s Mandi Bahauddin on Sunday for allegedly sexually abusing a disabled minor boy, filming him, and uploading a video of the assault to social media, police said.

Mandi Bahauddin District Police Officer (DPO) Ahmed Mohiuddin told Dawn.com that as the video of the assault went viral, he took immediate notice and directed the Malikwal police station to register a case against the suspects and ensure their timely apprehension.

Following the DPO’s instruction, Malikwal Police Station Station House Officer (SHO) GA Hashmi registered a case against the suspects and arrested both of them from Mandi Bahauddin’s Chak No. 20 area.

“Malakwal police station obtained a three-day physical remand of the arrested suspects from the magistrate’s court,” DPO Mohiuddin said, adding that during interrogation, both suspects confessed to the crime.

A mobile phone was recovered from the suspects, which they allegedly used to make videos, he added.

SHO Hashmi, while speaking to Dawn.com added that the victim, who is mute, identified both suspects through hand gestures. He further said that the suspects lured the victim to a large house in the village where the alleged assault took place.

According to the first information report (FIR) of the incident, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the victim was “almost 18 years old”. It added that the police registered a case against the suspects upon the complaint of the victim’s grandfather under sections 376 (3) (punishment for rape of a minor or a person with a mental or physical disability), 292 (c) (takes part in or receives profits from […] the sale, etc., of obscene books, etc.), 114 (abettor present when offence is committed) and 34 (acts done by several persons In furtherance of common intention).

A formal investigation has also been launched into the incident, it added.

Despite the presence of strict anti-rape laws in the country, which could result in the death penalty or imprisonment lasting from ten to twenty-five years, incidents of sexual assault continue across the country.

Data compiled by the non-governmental organisation Sahil shows that 11 children were abused every day in 2023, with mostly acquaintances and relatives involved in the heinous act.

The statistics were reported in ‘Cruel Numbers 2023,’ a signature publication of the NGO working for the welfare of children, which launched at the end of February with the support of the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR).

The geographical divide statistics show that out of the total 4,213 reported cases, 75 per cent were reported from Punjab, 13pc cases from Sindh, 7pc cases from Islamabad capital territory, 3pc cases from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and 2pc cases from Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).