Helper faces 2 years in jail for assaulting autistic student in Karachi’s Gulshan | The Express Tribune
Key Takeaways
- Police filed a case against ACRO administration after CCTV footage showed an assistant torturing an autistic boy.
- The case was registered under the Sindh Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2018, and sections of the Pakistan Penal Code for child cruelty and injury.
- The footage showed assistant Safia Naz hitting and wrenching the ears of the ten- to twelve-year-old boy.
- Advocate Altaf Hussain Khoso filed the case, alleging physical abuse and an attempted cover-up by ACRO.
- No arrests have been made pending forensic analysis of the CCTV footage, which requires travel to Lahore.
A case was filed by the Gulshan police against the administration of the Autism Care and Rehabilitation Organisation (ACRO) following the leak of CCTV footage on September 26th showing an assistant named Safia Naz assaulting a young autistic boy in a classroom full of other children. ACRO took four days to report the incident, and the case was officially registered by October 2nd under the Sindh Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2018, and relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code concerning child cruelty (Section 328-A) and injury (Section 337-A(1)). Advocate Altaf Hussain Khoso, who filed the case, alleged physical abuse and an attempted cover-up by the organization, highlighting that this is the first First Information Report (FIR) registered under the specialized disability act in seven years. Despite the registration, no arrests have been made yet, as the investigating officer cited the need for forensic analysis of the digital evidence, which must be conducted in Lahore and will take time.
