Alleged Child Rape: Court rejects suspect’s bail plea

Tahir Shareef had been booked along with three other suspects for allegedly sexually assaulting a boy

ISLAMABAD: A sessions court on Monday rejected the bail-before-arrest plea of a man suspected of raping a child.  Tahir Shareef had been booked by the Karachi Company police along with three other suspects for allegedly sexually assaulting a boy in the Sector G-9 Markaz earlier this year. The other suspects were identified as Muhammad Asad, Tahir Abdullah, and Muhammad Shahzad. Police arrested two of the suspects while Asad and Shareef applied for pre-arrest bails. Hearing the pleas, Additional District and Sessions Judge Javed Iqbal Sipra rejected Shareef’s application on Monday.  The court, however, accepted the pre-arrest bail plea of Asad after the complaint against him was withdrawn. Meanwhile, an official of the Karachi Company police said that medical reports had not confirmed the sexual assault.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2017.