Charges framed against three in Kasur child abuse case

LAHORE
An anti-terrorism court judge Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas on Monday framed charges against three prime suspects in Kasur child abuse scandal.
The court after framing charges against the accused has directed prosecution to produce its witnesses on the next date of hearing going to be held on November 28.
On Monday, Ganda Singh Wala police produced accused persons, including Haseeb Amir, Ali Majeed and Abdul Mannan before the court. The accused denied charges against them saying that police had registered fake cases against them, after which the court indicted them.
The Ganda Singh police had registered more than 30 cases in connection with the Kasur child abuse scandal against more than 20 accused.
Twenty-five cases were registered under sections of 506, 293, 387, 386 and 377 of the criminal procedure code and sections of Anti-Terrorism Act while other cases were excluded under ATA sections. The News has learnt that more than 20 challans have been received by prosecution in this regard and more accused are likely to be indicted in related cases in near future.
The indicted accused Haseeb Amir was nominated in two FIRs, including 288 and 250 while other two accused persons Ali Majeed and Abdul Manan were nominated in FIR number 250.
It is pertinent to mention here that Haseeb Amir said to be the main suspect in child abuse scandal had confessed to subjecting the children to abuse and making their videos. He confessed to committing the crime of sexually abusing children and capturing the same in videos.
The Kasur child abuse scandal got surfaced in August when it revealed that a group of criminals was producing and selling illicit videos of child sexual abuse in a village Hussain Khan Wala in the area of Ganda Singh Wala, Kasur. Initially it was stated that around 400 videos were made of 280 minor victims of sexual abuse by the organised gang of over 25 criminals. Parents of victims were blackmailed for money and children were abused for several years from their childhood to teenage.
Terrorist convicted: Anti-terrorism court judge Haroon Latif on Monday awarded 42-year jail to a terrorist affiliated with Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan overcharges of keeping explosives to be used in terrorist activities.
The court has awarded 14-year jail term on two counts to TTP affiliate Yasir Aurangzeb under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The court has also awarded further 14 years jail term to the convict under Section 4 (Punishment for attempt to cause explosion or for making or keeping explosives with intent to endanger life or property) of the Explosives Substances ACT, 1908 and under Section 5 (Punishment for making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances) of the same act.
The Counter Terrorism Department in a joint operation with intelligence agencies had arrested Yasir Aurangzeb of the banned outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The convict was planning to target densely populated areas of the city. The agencies had seized a large quantity of explosives from his possession.