PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD: A policeman, arrested on the orders of the Supreme Court (SC) for allegedly destroying evidence to benefit a rape suspect, was released on bail on Saturday.
The apex court had ordered the police to book ASI Turabul Hassan as well as former Golra SHO Inspector Rana Muhammad Ashraf for their negligence in investigating a rape case.
Syed Sajid Hussain Tirmizi, a retired colonel of the army, had been arrested by the Golra police after he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman in a Sector G-13 house on September 28.
A medical examination of the suspect and victim were subsequently carried out the following day and a Pims doctor handed over five samples to ASI Hassan on October 13 to submit them to a forensic laboratory for chemical examination.
However, instead of sending the samples to a laboratory, officer submitted them to a repository of the Golra police station. The samples remained there for over 16 days ‘without any reason’, the court noted.
On November 2, when the samples were finally submitted to the laboratory, officials there returned the it the same day after raising objections that the samples had dried up. The victim told the SC that she had handed over tissue papers containing semen and tablets used by the suspect but they were destroyed and were never made a part of the case record.
Hassan was booked and arrested on Friday for damaging evidence but he was released on bail on Saturday.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2017.
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