A 14-year-old boy was set on fire by two unidentified men on Friday, allegedly because he belonged to the Christian faith, according to the boy’s statement.
Nauman, a resident of Sherakot area was working as a tailor’s apprentice at Saat Footi road at Gulshan-e-Ravi. At around 2pm on Friday he went out for a shop errand when, according to the boy’s reported statement to the police, two masked men approached him and asked about his faith. When he said that he was a Christian they beat him up before dousing him with petrol and setting him alight.
The boy received 70 per cent burns and is in a critical condition in the Mayo Hospital burns ward.
Gulshan Ravi Police Sub-Inspector Hussain Farooqui told Pakistan Today that nothing could be said about the nature of the incident as the police were probing the issue. The boy’s family had not approached the police to register any case by the time this report was made at 12:30am.
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the case and asked the DIG to prepare an immediate report on the matter while asking the hospital to give the boy the best care possible.