Five more arrested in Pak’s biggest child abuse scandal
BY Agencies11 Aug 2015 11:01 PM GMT
Agencies11 Aug 2015 11:01 PM GMT
At least 280 children were filmed being sexually abused by a gang who used the hundreds of videos they produced to blackmail their parents in Ganda Singh village in Kasur district, some 50 kilometres from here.
Kasur Police chief Rai Babar told reporters today that the prime accused, Hasib Aamir, was arrested yesterday and he had confessed to his crime.
“The accused confessed to have committed sexual assault on a number of children and blackmailed their parents,” Babar said, adding police have also arrested another two accused named in the FIR.
Following the surfacing of the scandal early last month, police had registered criminal cases against 15 suspects of ‘the gang’ under sodomy and extortion charges. Eleven suspects have been arrested so far. Hasib, however, told media at Kasur police station that he only filmed the crime.
“I only used to film the crime but I never took part in it,” he said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed strong resentment over the incident and vowed stern action against those responsible. He said the culprits behind the incident would be taken to task with “exemplary punishment”.
Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Punjab province, where the abuse took place, has ordered setting up of a judicial commission comprising judges of <g data-gr-id="31">superior</g> court to investigate the matter.
The head of Punjab’s Child Protection Bureau, Saba Sadiq, described the case as “the largest child abuse scandal in Pakistan’s history”.
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old student in Lahore also filed a complaint with the police, alleging that when he was nine-year-old, Hasib and other accused lured him to their place and sodomised him. The victim children’s family alleged that police are protecting the criminals and have provided them an opportunity to escape the village.
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