DNA test clears police officers in Rawat rape case

Forensic agency directs police to submit samples of real culprits within 15 days

RAWALPINDI: A DNA test has cleared four men, including three Rawalpindi police officers, who were implicated in allegedly kidnapping and raping a teenaged student within the remits of the Rawat police last month.

The test results come days after the victim had changed her statement in court, stating that the suspects nominated were not the ones who had allegedly committed the crime, but they had only been named to protect the actual culprit.

The tests, conducted by a forensic laboratory in Lahore, cleared suspects Rashid Minhas, Amir Shahzad, Muhammad Azeem and Muhammad Naseer. They had been nominated in a first information report (FIR) filed by the victim AR*.

However, the three-page forensic report confirms that the victim had been subjected to sexual assault. It advised the police officials to immediately obtain and submit samples of the actual culprits. The Punjab Forensic Agency (PFA) warned that if samples of the accused are not provided within the next 15 days, current record obtained from the victim will be destroyed and no further samples can be collected.

Meanwhile, the victim told The Express Tribune that she had been claiming from the first day that the suspects whose names had been included in the case were not the real suspects.

“The police officials have been protecting the real suspect and fake suspects have been nominated to weaken my case,” she said, adding that she was still receiving threats.

To make matters worse, AR* said that the suspects — well acquainted with the workings of the police and judicial system — plan to file a petition to dismiss of the case against them based on the DNA analysis report.

Meanwhile, Rawalpindi Additional District and Sessions Judge Tahir Aslam has summoned the Rawat police station SHO on June 18 with directions to present the challan in the case.

Police unsure teenage girl committed suicide

The Nilore police are unsure whether a teen-aged girl who has died, committed suicide or was murdered.

Nilore police station duty officer SI Muhammad Nawaz in his report said that he had received information that the body of a young woman was lying at a local hospital in the Alipur area of Farash Town and that the girl had allegedly committed suicide.

Upon receiving the information, SI Nawaz said he and a woman police officer went to the hospital to examine the body before it was sent for an autopsy.

The woman police officer examined the body and found that the marks on the victim’s body did not appear in line with that of a suicide

The victim’s body bore multiple bullet wounds and torture marks, SI Nawaz said, adding that a post-mortem will disclose the actual cause of death.

Furthermore, he said that the body bore a deep wound behind her ear as well apart from bullet mark on the back of her shoulder. This, SI Nawaz, said, apparently showed that the victim was probably trying to escape her alleged assailant.

Similarly, there were wounds and bullet marks over different parts of her body which signified that she was attacked.

According to the police, the victim’s father lives and works in Saudi Arabia while she was living in Alipur with the rest of her family.

During their investigations, SI Nawaz said that the victim’s family said that she had committed suicide.

The police, however, have registered a murder case. Her body was handed over to her family after a post-mortem was completed.

The case has now been transferred to the homicide unit of the Islamabad Police who are expected to conduct further investigations in the case.

While officials believe this to be a murder case, they do not have any clues regarding who her possible assailant could be.

*NAME WITHHELD TO PROTECT IDENTITY

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT IN ISLAMABAD

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2019.