Four more indicted in Kasur child abuse case

LAHORE

An anti-terrorism court Monday indicted four more people in Kasur child abuse case. 

The court framed charges against Aleem Asif, Maqsood Sindhi, Haseem Amir and Faizan Majeed. 

Ghanda Singh Wala police had lodged 19 FIRs against 25 people allegedly involved in torturing and abusing children in Kasur district. 

Previously, the same court on April 18 had sentenced two main culprits for life over the charges of sexually abusing children in the same case.

The court had convicted Haseem Amir and Faizan Majeed and directed the convicts to pay Rs 300,000 each as compensation to the victims. A five-member team of JIT headed by DIG Abu Bakar Khusa Baksh found 19 sodomy victims.

The JIT findings were released after the team members investigated 31 FIRs, interviewed more than 400 people, some of them repeatedly, and examined a total of 47 video-clips and 72 photos in the light of Punjab Forensic Science report.

The probe team will submit a final report to the Lahore High Court on November 16.

In addition to exaggerated claims, the team said it did not find any evidence of extortion as claimed in the FIRs and by the media as well as the uploading of video clips on the internet for monetary gain.

The JIT presented challan of a total of 17 people as accused. Out of these, ten have been challanned under charges of sodomy and seven under other charges like criminal intimidation and fraud. It recommended discharge of eight cases, which, it said, were fake.

The report said a 10-member gang of the accused led by Haseem Amir acted in tandem and committed acts of sodomy and videotaped the same while they were still adolescents. It said all the video-clips (47) relating to the scandal were 4-5 years old.