Hospital rape ‘victim’ retracts allegation

Police sources allege woman likely to marry the accused

RAWALPINDI:

A woman who claimed she was raped at a public hospital in Rawalpindi has retracted her allegation while telling a local court that she no longer wished to pursue the case.

The alleged victim appeared before an additional district and sessions judge on Tuesday, in which she submitted an affidavit stating that she was neither raped nor blackmailed through an obscene video by the two accused.

The woman had previously filed a police report stating that she had been called to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital on Murree Road by the main suspect on August 12.

He took her inside the X-ray room where his friend, another hospital employee, was present.

The main suspect blackmailed her with her indecent videos and then raped her inside the computer room, said the complaint.

The complainant had stated in the first information report (FIR) that she was divorced, and her two children were living with their father.

She stated she was in a relationship with the accused for three years, who had been promising her marriage.

Once the incident was reported on Tuesday, CCTV footage of the hospital went viral on social media in which the woman and the accused could be seen going to various rooms in the hospital.

The same day, police confirmed that they had a hospital employee in custody.

On Tuesday, she told the additional district and sessions judge, Ahsan Mehmood Malik, that she did not have any objection if the accused was released on bail or acquitted.

The judge granted bail to the accused Faizan Saeed, who was present in the courtroom, against a surety bond of Rs100,000.

It ordered the accused to join the investigation and instructed the investigating officer to record the statement of the accused and the complainant and submit the report to the court next week.

Meanwhile, the complainant refused to have a DNA test and declined to appear before an inquiry committee of the hospital.

Sources within the police said that the accused and the complainant had reached an out-of-court agreement and they were likely to get married in the coming weeks.