The family of two women who were allegedly kidnapped and raped by eight men last month staged a demonstration outside the Judicial Complex on Monday after a court granted bail to two of the accused. PHOTO: FILE
The family of two women who were allegedly kidnapped and raped by eight men last month staged a demonstration outside the Judicial Complex on Monday after a court granted bail to two of the accused.
Protesters appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take suo motu notice of the “injustice” and also threatened to self-immolate outside Parliament House if they are “denied justice” till Tuesday (today).
The two accused, Tahir * and Guddu* were granted bails by the Additional Session Judge (ASJ) Muhammad Shehbaz against surety bonds of Rs50,000 each.
Both men were arrested alongside two other accomplices, Saeed* and Waheed*, by Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Aftab Gondal of the Airport police following the filing of an FIR by Munira* who alleged that they along with four others kidnapped and raped her daughters (M*, 13 and A*, 15).
The mother and daughters first staged a sit-in on the road, amid which they were throwing bricks and stones. Afterwards, they laid down in the middle of the road, triggering a massive traffic jam.
Munira alleged that ASI Aftab Gondal did not conducting a proper investigation and claimed he favoured the accused — all of whom, she maintained, happened after she refused to accept Rs50,000 from the accused to settle the case out of court.
“The ASI intentionally tampered with the case record, which led to the bail plea acceptance,” she alleged.
When contacted, Airport Circle Assistant Superintendent of Police Haroon Rashid — who had called the protesting women to his office — said the police had sent samples for DNA tests and the reports would help resolve the case.
Meanwhile, Gondal termed the allegations baseless and said he had arrested four accused and had sent them to jail. He added that the four who were still at large would be arrested soon. *Names changed to protect identity
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2013.
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