A seven-year-old girl was hospitalised after a shopkeeper allegedly raped her at gunpoint in Lahore, police said, adding the perpetrator has been arrested.

The incident took place on Saturday in the city's Nawab Town area when the victim visited the shop, reports Xinhua news agency

According to the FIR lodged by the girl's father, the 35-year-old suspect took her to a portion of his shop, allegedly raped her at gunpoint and then fled the scene on finding her in serious condition.

As the matter came to the notice of her father, he immediately shifted his daughter to a hospital where doctors confirmed that she had been raped.

He later alerted police who raided the hideout of the suspected rapist and arrested him.

In a recently-released report, the Islamabad-based NGO Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) said that there was about a 400 per cent increase in reported child rapes, sexual assaults and associated kidnapping cases in Pakistan during this year's second quarter amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report added that 119 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in January-March, which increased to 576 during April-June.

(IANS)