[DAWN] A seven-year-old boy's post-mortem examination report — a copy of which is available with DawnNewsTV — confirmed that he had been raped before being killed. Police officials at Shaikh Maltoon Police Station said that they have launched an investigation and taken some suspects into custody.The boy was last seen playing in front of his house in the Tambulk area on Saturday before he went missing. Early on Sunday morning, an unidentified suspect dumped a gunny sack with the child's body in the fields behind the family's home and fled.
The boy was the son of a labourer who earns daily wages by loading and unloading vehicles at a nearby vegetable market, police said.
When the child's body was returned to his family after post-mortem, residents of the area blocked the Mardan-Nowshera Road with the body in protest, demanding the suspect's arrest.
The incident has caused a wave of fear, anger and grief to spread through locals. At least two similar cases have already been reported in Mardan this year, in which minors who went missing and were recovered dead were believed to have been subjected to sexual assault.
As many as 17,862 cases of sexual assault against children have been reported throughout the country in the last five years, according to data presented to lawmakers in the National Assembly.