Nowshera rape case suspect’s DNA tests positive, claim police

Seven-year-old girl raped and murdered in Hangu

HANGU: A forensic DNA test of suspects allegedly involved in the brutal rape and murder of a minor, Auz Noor in Nowshera, has come back as positive, police claimed on Sunday.

A senior official of Nowshera police, who requested not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media, told The Express Tribune that results from the DNA test in the rape and murder of eight-year-old Noor have come back and the samples obtained from the primary suspects have matched those of the victim.

A top official of Nowshera police said that the body of the victim had initially been transferred to a local hospital in Nowshera, but an autopsy could not be conducted there due to a lack of facilities and qualified staff. The body was then transferred to the Khyber Medical College (KMC), which also lacked the necessary equipment to carry out the DNA tests.

The police official added that DNA specimens were obtained from the victim and were sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA). Late last week, the agency sent its report to the forensic department at KMC for verification. The KMC forensic department head Dr Hakeem Afridi has confirmed that the samples matched, the police official said.

He said the forensic laboratory can only give its opinion over the test results and only a medical officer of a government hospital was authorised to confirm or deny the sexual assault. The district police official said that the suspect– Abdar– has confessed to committing the crime before Nowshera District Magistrate-I Akbar Ali.

According to Abdar’s confession statement, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, the suspect had allegedly been raped by the victim’s maternal uncle–Shehzad. The statement further read that the suspect wanted revenge and thus he lured Hooz Noor to a nearby field where he raped and then killed her on January 20.

Following horrific incident, the K-P government had formed a 13-member parliamentary body which has recommended publicly hanging convicts of child abuse.

Fresh cases

Hangu police on Sunday said that they had recovered the body of a minor girl from a deserted area in Doaba area of the district. Police said that the minor, identified as Madiha from the Sarokhel village of Hangu, had been missing since Saturday night. When she did not return home, her family had filed a case with the local police. Officers said that they immediately launched a search for her and discovered her body lying among the bushes in a deserted area near the village.

The body was shifted to the Hangu District Headquarters Hospital for an autopsy where it was confirmed that the minor girl had been sexually assaulted before being stabbed to death.

Escaped suspect arrested

A child abuse suspect, who had escaped from police custody in Haripur on Saturday, was apprehended on Sunday along with his father and brother.

The suspect, identified as Muhammad Ramzan, had been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a four-year-old in the Wajian area of the district, within the remits of the Khanpur police station.

(With additional input from Yawar Hayat in Haripur.)

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2020.