Actress Sabeena Farooq demands justice for 7yo boy raped, killed in Karachi

Actress Sabeena Farooq is advocating for seven-year-old Sarim, who was tragically murdered after being subjected to sexual assault. She posted a story on Instagram, urging the authorities to take action.

In her post, Sabeena wrote, “This as much as we can so the authorities take action. I request the Sindh government to investigate & punish the culprit behind this bcz enough of this already. The kid was only 7!!!!”

The autopsy report of Sarim, who went missing from North Karachi on January 7 and was found after 11 days, revealed that he was subjected to sexual assault before being murdere.

Media reports indicate that the police are now treating the case as a murder investigation. Sarim's body was found in an underground water tank of a high-rise building in Bilal Colony’s Anam Apartments.

Sarim was a student at Madrasah Al Quran and went to his seminary on January 7 but never returned. His father, Parvez, went to the seminary to inquire about his son and was told that Sarim had left for home at 3:40 pm. On his way back, Parvez found Sarim's gloves on the stairs inside a mosque.

After an extensive search, the police found Sarim’s body in a water tank on January 18. The autopsy revealed that the injuries on his body suggested it was “not an accidental death”.

Initially, the police investigated the possibility of foul play or assault and considered the chance that the water tank was not properly covered, which might have caused Sarim to fall inside if he was playing nearby. However, the autopsy report later confirmed that Sarim was raped.

The report detailed that Sarim had suffered 12 different injuries on various parts of his body, and “all are antemortem (prior to death) except one injury.” Although his body was found after 11 days, the examination confirmed that he had died “approximately four to five days” before the post-mortem.

These revelations have raised concerns about the police's investigation skills, as it is now clear that Sarim was alive at least a week after his kidnapping.

DIG-West Irfan Ali Baloch stated that the exact cause and time of death are yet to be confirmed by doctors, and he had not received the reports in this regard. He also mentioned that the police had taken a teacher of the seminary into custody, and his DNA samples were taken for cross-matching with the victim's samples.

Residents of Sarim’s neighborhood expressed shock over his recovery, stating that law enforcement had checked the tank twice during the search but failed to find any sign of the child. Some speculated that the child’s body may have remained submerged and surfaced over time.