KARACHI: In a recent development regarding the case of 7 year old Sarim, the Karachi police has now confirmed that the boy became a subject of sexual assault after which the culprits threw him into a water tank in his residential building.
SSP Anti-Violent Crime Cell Anil Haider said the details of Sarim’s murder were such that the whole family and the society got shocked.
Preliminary police reports described that Sarim received several injuries at different areas of his body including his neck where some of his bones were broken. Reports also indicate several marks around his joints and back.
Sarim was a student of the local seminary. He went missing on 7 January after returning home from madrassah along with his brother. His father had filed a missing person’s report with the Bilal Colony police, and search operations were carried out in the apartment and the surrounding areas.
But it was on January 18 that Sarim’s body was found in the underground water tank of the apartment building. AVCC police have arrested a suspect, Azhar, and some evidence was seized which is being sent for chemical examination to confirm the initial findings.
The police surgeon, Dr. Summaiya Syed, has endorsed the initial report by confirming that the chemical examination report is still pending; however, the preliminary report does suggest that Sarim was indeed raped and murdered through strangulation.
The news left Sarim’s family, particularly his parents, in a state of grief and trauma. Sarim was a middle child. His memory would be engraved in the hearts of his parents, who were left to take care of the remaining two boys.
The event has raised more questions about children’s safety and security in this community, and there is pressure from the authorities to serve justice and see that the culprit is brought before the law to answer for this detestable act.
