A man accused of rape shot four member of the complainant's family on Monday at Chak 58 in the vicinity of Kot Radha Kishan Police Station, reported Dawn.

Two minor children were injured in the incident.

On the complaint of Muhammad Tariq, the police had registered a rape case of a minor boy against three men. Around three months after the complaint was lodged, two accused were nominated.

The police declared the two accused, who raped the boy one by one, as proclaimed offenders.

According to the report, the accused wanted Tariq to stop pursuing the case. They went to his house on Monday and opened indiscriminate firing, injuring four members of Tariq’s family -- Sajid, Zeeshan, Hamza (12) and Fatima (7).

Cases of sexual assault of children seem to be on the rise in the country.

At least 2,960 cases of child abuse were reported across the country as per the reports of newspapers, according to Sahil report 'Cruel 2020'. It stated that the year 2020 witnessed a "slight increase" in child abuse cases as they have increased 4% as compared to the last year’s data of 2019.

The data showed that in a day more than eight children have been abused during the year 2020.

The decomposed bodies of four children from Kasur district were found in 2019 after they were reported missing months earlier. The children were murdered after being raped. The incident lead to protests and the PTI government took action against police officers for failing to act fast.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has often spoken about sexual assault cases against women and children but has also blamed the rise in incidents to vulgarity in society.

In a separate incident, the Attock police on Sunday arrested a man for sexually assaulting two of his daughters, aged 12 and 14 years, for almost one year.