KARACHI: The case of a seven-year-old boy who was missing for over 10 days before his body was discovered in a water tank in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi has put the spotlight once more on child abuse in Pakistan, with a medical report seen by Arab News on Tuesday saying he was subjected to sexual violence before his death.
Nearly 10 cases of child abuse a day are reported in Pakistan, according to Sahil, an organization that works on child protection, with girls disproportionately affected.
In the latest case, Mohammed Sarim went missing on Jan. 7 after leaving home to attend religious lessons at a madrassah inside the apartment complex where he lived. He never returned home, and his body was found in an underground water tank at the same complex on Jan. 18.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anil Haider told Arab News investigations were being carried out in the case in light of the autopsy report.
“They have written about sexual violence in the report,” he said, saying no arrests had been made so far though police were investigating suspects based on interviews with Sarim’s family members.
“The family did not nominate anyone, but we interrogated whoever they told us to include in the investigation,” Haider added, saying DNA samples of the suspects had been sent for testing to a forensics lab.
According to the medical report seen by Arab News, the boy died at least four days before the body was found, with the hair on his scalp missing in patches and the skin on several parts of his body having been peeled off.
“On the basis of the examination, it is opined that findings are suggestive of anal sexual violence,” the report said, adding that the boy had suffered 12 different injuries and wounds on various parts of the body, which were all “ante-mortem,” or caused prior to death, except for one.
Child abuse is a widespread issue in Pakistan, with perpetrators often turning out to be family members, teachers, or trusted people. 
In 2020, Pakistan’s parliament passed a new law against child abuse, two years after the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl that shocked the country. The national child abuse law introduced a penalty of life imprisonment for child abuse. The law requires police to register a case within two hours of a child’s parents reporting them missing. It also includes measures to speed up the process, including the establishment of a dedicated helpline and a new agency to issue alerts for a missing child.
The new law followed the death of Zainab Ansari, whose body was found in a garbage dumpster in Kasur district near the eastern city of Lahore in 2018, sparking large protests and accusations of negligence by authorities.
Ansari’s case triggered debate in Pakistan over whether to teach children how to guard against sex abuse, a taboo subject in the Muslim majority nation.