12 acquitted of child abuse charge in Pakistan

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has acquitted 12 people of child abuse charge over the lack of evidence in one of the 29 cases registered in Kasur in 2015.

The prosecution had produced 16 witnesses against the accused during the course of the proceedings but ATC-IV Judge Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas did not find them convincing.

The acquitted people were charged with committing sodomy with a teenage boy and also filming the act, however, the prosecution failed to establish its case, reported the Dawn.

The infamous child pornography incident in Kasur was first reported in 2015 wherein at least 280 boys under the age of 14 were raped and filmed. The videos were then sent to the parents and families of the victims to extort them.

Kasur has been in the limelight for recurring cases of child abuse in the area.

According to the Express Tribune, a total of 141 cases were reported in 2016 from Kasur.

Earlier this month, an ATC had awarded death sentence to the rapist and murderer of seven-old-girl Zainab in a high profile case that had sparked anger across the country.