Two suspects remanded in rape case

Two suspects detained over allegations of rape against a mentally challenged female minor.

HYDERABAD:

In the case of alleged rape of a mentally challenged teenage girl, police have detained two suspects who have reportedly confessed to their crime during preliminary interrogation.

The Baldia police on Tuesday produced Shahid Baloch and Nadeem Baloch, who were arrested on April 22, before a civil judge and judicial magistrate and obtained their three-day physical remand.

The suspects have been charged in an FIR of luring 14-year-old Malika Lashari to the residence of Shahid where they allegedly raped her on the rooftop of the house. The suspects allegedly beguiled her by saying that she would be given Eid benefaction if she accompanied them to their home.

The incident took place on the first day of Eidul Fitr in the Ghumanabad area in the limits of Baldia police station. But the police registered the case on April 21 on the complaint of Ramzan Lashari, the father of the victim. A police official said they would collect DNA samples of the accused and the victim for a lab test to confirm rape.

According to the victim's parents, their daughter had left her home on the Eid day to buy confectionery from a shop in the neighbourhood. They said that some neighbours had witnessed the two men luring their daughter and taking her to their home but they kept silent.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2024.