In a shocking incident at Girja Road, four young men, belonging to influential families, allegedly gang-raped a six-year-old boy, Hassan Raza, of a poor family here on Saturday evening.

The locals and family members of the victim told ‘The News’ on Sunday that police had not taken any action against the culprits despite the preliminary medical report confirmed the offence and the medico-legal officer (MLO), in his report, recommended lodging of an FIR against the culprits.

The alleged victim’s family members told this correspondent that Hassan Raza, a student of class 2, was playing in the street after school hours. According to them, four young men, enjoying police protection because of the influence of their families, took the boy into a vacant house in the same street and gang-raped him. Later, they left the boy in the street in critical condition and escaped from the scene. Some neighbours informed the family that their minor boy was lying in the street in a state of unconsciousness, the family members said.

According to the family members, the Girja Chowki Police, a sub-police station of Saddar Bairuni Police Station, was informed by Ghulam Tauqir, father of the victim, immediately after the incident, but police plainly refused to take up the case. However, the poor family contacted an influential man of the area, who asked police to take up the case. Later, police sent the victim for medical examination with a cop after receiving written complaint from Ghulam Tauqir, they said.

The MLO, after conducting medical examination, confirmed the rape of the boy, in his preliminary medico-legal report, and recommended lodging of an FIR against the suspects. However, the MLO wrote that a final medical report would be issued on Monday after receiving report from the chemical examiner.

The residents of the Girja Road witnessed hooliganism from the alleged rapists when they attacked the house of the victim and ripped off clothes of women of the family and its neighbours when they approached police. The locals said that the rapists and their friends attacked the family members of the victim to teach them a lesson for lodging a complaint about the incident with police.

The area police officials confirmed the incident, when contacted by this scribe, but hesitated to explain why police were not taking up the case despite receiving preliminary report issued by the MLO with a clear-cut recommendation of lodging an FIR against the culprits.

Ghulam Tauqir, when contacted by this correspondent, said that he was a poor man and working as a painter to earn bread and butter for his family. He said that he is living in a rented house. He requested this correspondent not to write against the area police, as his family could not face the police brutality, but begged for justice from the government and police authorities.

The mother of the victim, crying for justice since the occurrence, while talking to this correspondent, said that they were poor people, but they have the right to live in peace. She asked why her innocent boy was punished by the influential people and why police were reluctant to take legal action against the rapists. “If police fail to provide us justice, I will knock at the door of the Punjab chief minister to seek justice,” she said.