Trail 3 incident: Rape claim termed attempt to settle score

Police say two cases registered against woman who made false charges

ISLAMABAD:

A woman who claimed she was raped on a popular hiking trail in Islamabad’s Margalla Hills was lying, with the allegation part of an attempt by a swindler to settle scores with his former partner, the capital city police said on Tuesday.

According to investigators, the initial main accused Noman had a quarrel with his partner Anwar, who then hired a gang to frame Noman in a rape case.

“The matter was over a quarrel between the suspect and his partner,” Islamabad police said in a statement. This follows an earlier development in which the police said that the alleged victim was not cooperating with the police. A medical test had also failed to find evidence of rape, police had previously said.

According to the initial complaint lodged on July 13, a woman told Kohsar police that she was raped on Trail 3. She said she had come to Islamabad from Sheikhupura after being promised a job by Noman. The report stated that she was taken to a secluded part of the trail, where she was raped. The main accused was arrested on Sunday.

However, during interrogation, it was revealed that the accused Noman had a quarrel with his partner Anwar, who hired people to take revenge.

The group included a woman who went by the name of Sidra and claimed to be a journalist, a Rawalpindi resident called Saima, another man Shakeel Ahmed who claimed to be the bureau chief of a newspaper, and one fake police officer who called himself Manzoorul Haq and identified himself as a sub-inspector of the Punjab police, said sources privy to the investigation.

Anwar apparently contacted Saima, and tasked her with getting Numan charged with rape. She hired the Sheikhupura resident, Sidra, to make the rape claim, they said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2023.