13-year-old boy killed after being sexually assaulted in Swat
By Adnan Bacha
SWAT: The body of a 13-year-old boy was found hanged in Kandil area of Madyan Swat who was raped twice.
According to police, the body of 13-year-old Muhammad Ajmal was found near his house and sent to the hospital for post-mortem. The post-mortem report revealed that the child was sexually assaulted twice and later strangled. Police have registered a report of the incident, arrested about nine suspects, and sent their DNA samples for testing.
Police claimed that the accused namely Waqar Ali is being arrested who accepted the crime. Accused is a relative of the assaulted boy.
27 children sexually abused in one year:
According to the data obtained from the Police Department, from January 2019 to January 2020, 27 cases of child abuse were reported in the Swat Valley.
According to data from the District Police Office, all the accused in the incidents in Swat have been convicted under the Child Protection Act 2010, while there are two cases in which the accused were relatives and both parties settles an agreement and the cases were dismissed.
In March 2019, a seven-year-old boy was raped by his uncle in Khawaza Khela Tehsil. According to the police, a report of the incident was lodged and the accused was also arrested but later both the parties made an agreement and the case was dismissed.
‘Silence is better than fear of infamy’
Dozens of incidents of child abuse took place in the Swat Valley, but the parents of the affected children did not file a police report for fear of being defamed.
Abdullah (pseudonym), a resident of Kabal Tehsil in Swat, whose seven-year-old child was raped at a madrassa, recounts the incident in which his child was abused by his cleric at the madrassa. When my son came and complained to me, I immediately went to the madrassa with my other brothers, but before we arrived, the Maulvi had disappeared.
”When I went to the police station, my brothers forbade me to do so and said that We will be disgraced and the future of the child will be negatively affected after which we kept quiet and did not say anything to anyone, ”he added. I am sorry now for that I did not tell the police, if I had told them, maybe my child would have got justice today and Maulvi would have been punished.
Regarding the incidents in Swat Valley, DSP Deedar Ghani said that in all the reported cases, all the accused have been sentenced under the Child Protection Act.
In most cases, the parents of the child have not been reported. Doing and believing that their reputation in the society will be damaged due to which the criminals get more encouragement and they go to other areas and keep repeating the same incidents which further increase the number of such cases.
