Kasur horror: Assault of young girl in Pakistani city infamous for child rape-murder, underage porn shocks netizens

In the Pakistani city of Kasur, a video of a grown man molesting a young girl in public is causing widespread outrage. The city in the Punjab province is infamous for being the epicentre of child abuse cases in the recent past, including a series of rape-murders of underage girls and a child porn ring.

What happened with young girl in Kasur?

The video that went viral since Monday (July 28) appeared to show a man approaching a young girl who was on a tricycle, and then molesting her and walking off. The man was later arrested by the Punjab police after an encounter during which he tried to open fire and was shot at.

“The suspect had molested a little girl playing in a street in Shah Inayat Colony three days ago,” Dawn newspaper cited a police statement as saying.

Kasur in Pakistan is infamous for child rape-murders, porn ring

The video has brought back memories of horrific cases of child abuse from Kasur that had led to widespread outrage, massive protests and a new law. In 2015, Kasur hit headlines for a child pornography ring that had some 280 underage victims. Then there was the shocking murder of Zainab Amin Ansari in January 2018. Zainab was only seven years old when a man abducted her while she was going to a Quran recitation class. The culprit, 24-year-old Imran Ali, was a serial offender who carried out at least seven previous rapes and murders of young children. He was hanged in the same year. The outrage in Pakistan over the murder led to the passage of the country's first law on child safety, called the Zainab Alert Bill.

Pakistani netizens react with horror at Kasur child abuse redux

Several Pakistani netizens reacted with disgust and horror at the video that circulated since Monday. “The video from Kasur leaves no room for the tired excuse ‘not all men.’ This predatory behaviour is sickening. If there’s no self-accountability, the state must do its part to make an example out of such predators,” Dawn quoted a netizen as saying on social media.

“Another horrifying case from Kasur… This is the same city where 6-year-old Zainab was brutally assaulted. Why do such vile crimes keep happening there?” another social media user said.

Call for more action

People called attention to the lack of a child offender registry in Pakistan, and low rates of prosecution in abuse cases. As per a 2023 report, more than 4,200 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in Pakistan in one year alone, which works out to 12 cases each day.