ISLAMABAD:
In the aftermath of what appears to be a gang rape, the Shehzad Town police managed to arrest just one of the six suspects on Thursday. The two victims, both students of class 9, are being treated at Polyclinic Hospital.
Police said the two girls were abducted from a street in Jhangi Syedan, an area of Shehzad Town, and raped by a gang of six men on Wednesday. The investigation officer said that they are still waiting for medical reports, however “the physical condition of the girls indicates that they were assaulted”.
A police official said that the two girls were abducted from outside of a real estate dealer’s office. We have picked up the real estate agent for interrogation as well, he said. The six men assaulted the girls and then released them after telling them to keep mum over the incident or face grave consequences, he added.
One of the suspects had been arrested and was being interrogated. The police claimed to have identified the others, saying that they would also be arrested soon.
The official said, “Once the suspects are rounded up, their DNA samples will be taken for tests to establish if they had raped the girls.”
Another police official claimed that they had arrested three other suspects as well, but had not yet registered a case against them as they were interrogating them to establish their role in the crime.
Delayed registration of FIR
Meanwhile, a high-ranking police official said they were looking into the cause of delay in registration of an FIR as the Koral and Shehzad Town police stations kept the complainants running between them.
Initially both police stations denied the incident took place in their jurisdiction. “Actually the Koral police have a post in Jhangi Seyadan; but the area where the incident took place, across a boundary road, falls under the Shehzad Town police,” said the police official.
After shuttling between the two stations for some time, the girls’ parents lodged a complaint through Rescue 15 police and took the victims to Polyclinic Hospital for medical treatment, as the condition of one of them was bad, said the police official.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik had also taken notice of the incident and asked Deputy Commissioner (DC) Amir Ali Ahmed to inquire into the matter and submit a report by Thursday.
Complying with the orders, Ahmed submitted the report of an inquiry into the incident to the interior ministry. “I cannot share the findings, since the report has yet not been read for verification of facts,” said Ahmed. He added that the inquiry report covers every aspect of the incident.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2012.
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