Heinous crime: Court rejects bail plea of rape suspect

Suspect allegedly blackmailed the victim after the assault due to which she could not report crime to police earlier

ISLAMABAD: A sessions court on Friday dismissed the bail application of a man booked for allegedly raping a woman after promising to marry her.

Sohaib Khalid, the suspect, was booked by the Ramna police on August 8, 2016, after Shabana* lodged a complaint with SSP-Operations of the Islamabad Police.

Shabana* claimed that around three years ago Khalid had promised to marry her and had also brought his parents to her house to meet her. Thereafter, Khalid lured her to a flat in Rawalpindi where he allegedly raped her.

The victim said that she found out later that the ‘parents’ Khalid had brought to her house in Islamabad were actors pretending to be his parents. However, the suspect kept promising to marry Shabana* and allegedly also threatened her.

But after three years, Shabana* approached the police and lodged a complaint.

Khalid, however, filed an application for bail in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (West) Raja Asif Mehmood before police could apprehend him.  The court on Friday rejected his bail application on Friday and directed the police to arrest Khalid. Despite the court orders, Ramna police have been unable to locate Khalid. They are now conducting raids to nab him.

Zahid Asif Chaudhry, counsel for Shabana*, told The Express Tribune that the suspect allegedly blackmailed the victim after the assault due to which she could not report the crime to police earlier.

The victim claimed that she had submitted a complaint to the Rawalpindi police to register an FIR against the suspect but they took no action.

*NAME WITHHELD TO PROTECT IDENTITY

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2016.