Apparently, a gang of 25 young men allegedly arranged the abuse and then used the videos to harass the children and their families.
Pakistan has been rocked by a child sexual abuse scandal after 400 videos of more than 280 children being sexually abused in a village in Pakistani Punjab were discovered. The incident has prompted experts to ask for a federal enquiry, according to a media report.
According to the Pakistani daily The Nation, most of the victims were under 14 and included a 6-year-old boy and a 10-year-old schoolgirl who was filmed being molested by a 14-year-old boy.
Apparently, a gang of 25 young men allegedly arranged the abuse then used the videos to harass the children and their families. The family allegedly handed over millions of rupees and some of the children even stole gold ornaments from their parents to placate the abusers.
The abuse reportedly began in 2006 and continued till a year ago. Over 400 videos have been found depicting the adults and many of the parents have identified their children.
The scandal broke last week when the victims' parents clashed with the police during a protest when they blamed the authorities for failing to prosecute the criminals.
Over 20 people were injured when police used force to disperse over 400 protesters in Kasur district on Tuesday. It was described by Saba Sadiq, head of Pakistani Punjab's Child Protection Bureau as the “the largest ever child abuse scandal in Pakistan's history”.
It's believed that thousands of copies of the videos are circulating in the market with each of them being sold for Rs 40.
Some of the tales related to the assault are truly horrific. One of the victims said that he was injected with a drug in the spine before being assaulted. While six men have been arrested, the parents claim that about 25 people were involved in the abuse.
The parents also allege that the police tried to cover up the scandal and the criminals used their influence to avoid being charged.
District police chief Rai Babbar Saeed said: “We have arrested six persons after registering six separate cases against them on the complaints of the victims. Five of the accused are on physical remand while the sixth has obtained pre-arrest bail.”
Some claimed that the main suspect was released after a Rs 5 million bribe was paid on his behalf and some of the families claimed that a local politician had asked them to withdraw the allegations.
One of the mothers claimed she had paid Rs 6 lakh to the blackmailers for videos of her 14-year-old son. She said: “ “They made the video of my son in 2011. We have been paying money to the blackmailers for the last four years. I have seen the videos. It was disgusting and shameful.”
Another resident claimed the gang sold the videos to porn sites operating in Britain, US and Europe and had heard one of the gang members talking to a customer online.
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