Suspect in hiking trail rape arrested: police

Islamabad police obtain four-day physical remand of accused

ISLAMABAD:

Kohsar police have apprehended a suspect accused of raping a young woman on the pretext of assisting her in securing a job within the federal capital's education department.

According to sources, the police obtained a four-day physical remand of the accused from the duty magistrate's court on Sunday.

During the proceedings at the duty magistrate's court, police officials informed the court about their efforts to recover the mobile phone used by the accused to communicate with the victim girl, as well as the motorcycle used during the incident at Trail 3.

The identification parade of the accused in front of the victim girl is still pending, they pleaded.

Moreover, police conveyed to the court that they have sent the medical samples obtained from the victim for testing in Lahore and now they plan to obtain and send the suspect’s medical samples to Lahore for comparison.

As a result, the magistrate granted a four-day physical remand of the accused to the police.

Reliable source told The Express Tribune that substantial evidence confirms that both the accused and the victim were present at Trail 3 in Islamabad during the time of the incident. The medical examination of the young woman has been conducted at a government hospital in the federal capital. However, the final report is yet to be received.

Islamabad IG Dr Akbar Nasir Khan had issued directives to the Kohsar police to apprehend the accused within twenty-four hours.

On July 14, a man lured a woman to the capital on the pretext of a job before taking her to a popular trail in the city where he raped her at gunpoint.

The Kohsar police station registered a first information report (FIR) a day later. The survivor, who was the complainant, told police that the accused claimed they were going for an interview. Instead, he took her to a secluded park on the popular Trail 3 at around 3pm and raped her.

According to the survivor, the accused who identified himself as Noman contacted her via WhatsApp around a couple of months ago. During their conversation, Noman told her he was an accountant in the education department.

The woman said she was an FSC (Intermediate) and had been looking for work for some time, the police report stated.

Noman told her that there were openings in his department and that he could get her the job for Rs50,000.

The woman, a resident of Muridke in Sheikhupura district, agreed to come to Islamabad for the interview with cash.

She arrived in Rawalpindi on Wednesday and stayed with a relative. On the same day, she met Noman and paid him Rs30,000. The FIR added that she was supposed to pay the remaining Rs20,000 after getting the job.

Noman told her that she had to meet a senior officer for an interview, a ‘formality’, after which she would get the job, the survivor told police.

They agreed to meet the next day, July 14, on which the heinous crime took place. She said her attacker was armed and threatened her with dire consequences if she tried to shout for help or seek legal help later.

She said that Noman dropped her back after the incident, and she narrated the story to her relative. After that, they decided to go to the police.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2023.