Assaulted for refusing marriage: DNA of baby born after rape matches that of suspect

IHC rejects bail plea of man noting sufficient evidence available connecting him to crime

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has dismissed a bail application of a man who had been arrested for allegedly raping a teenage girl after she refused his marriage proposal.

The victim* was allegedly intoxicated and raped repeatedly over a period of three to four days for refusing a marriage proposal while living in the house of her aunt in Sector G-12 of the capital in May 2016.



The victim, who was then around 17-years-old and an orphan, told the police that she was visiting her maternal uncle’s house in Islamabad for a few days in May last year. There, her aunt’s brother NM* proposed to her and upon refusal sexually assaulted her several times.

The victim claimed that her aunt SM* had allegedly facilitated the crime by intoxicating her and locking the door to her room from the outside. Further, the suspects threatened the victim to kill her younger brother if she told anyone about the assault. The victim said that her uncle was completely unaware of the incidents and she returned to her home in another district after a month. The assault left the victim pregnant but she kept quiet because of fear. However, in January this year, she finally told her family about the incident.

A few days later, the victim and her family lodged a complaint against NM as well as SM at the Ramna Police Station. Police arrested the suspects even as doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences confirmed that the victim was seven-months pregnant.

The victim’s aunt was later released on bail but NM’s bail application was turned down by an additional sessions judge.

He later filed bail plea in the high court, maintaining that the charges against him were false and fabricated.



However, his application was dismissed by the high court a few days ago when the police and the victim’s lawyer Imtiaz Sumra produced DNA reports of the baby and the suspect before the court.

“The most important evidence is that the victim has conceived as a result of zina [rape] and as per the DNA test carried out, the DNA profile of the baby matches that of the accused’s. Hence, there is sufficient material available on record to connect the petitioner [the suspect] with the alleged offence,” Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of IHC observed in his judgment.

The baby born to the victim has been adopted by a couple who had no child.

*NAMES WITHHELD TO PROTECT IDENTITY

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2017.