Chakwal rape case: LHC absolves MNA of charges
MNA says his political opponents blew up the case out of proportion and provided counsels to the girl.
RAWALPINDI:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) here on Wednesday quashed a rape case against an opposition legislator from Chakwal, absolving him of all charges.
Justice Ijaz Ahmed of LHC’s Rawalpindi bench set aside the decision of a lower court which had earlier ordered registration of an FIR against Ayaz Amir, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member of the National Assembly.
Calling the charges “baseless and politically-motivated”, the columnist-turned politician said that he was not present in Chakwal on May 22, the day when a 15-year-old married girl was sexually assaulted. The judicial magistrate did not take the police investigation into consideration, he said.
The police had registered an FIR against 11 persons including the MNA on the charges of rape, abetment and criminal intimidation. The victim’s husband, Muhammad Jamshaid, and sister-in-law, Naseem Komal alias Simi, were also booked for allegedly forcing the girl into prostitution.
According to the FIR, Farooq Ahmed, a resident of Langa Village in Chakwal complained that his niece had married to Jamshaid, who had already two wives. One of them approached the area union council against her husband for marrying a teenaged girl and sought help to resolve the issue.
The girl was taken by her sister-in-law to the MNA on May 22 who allegedly raped her in his house.
The city police, however, stated that there is no evidence to support the allegations against the MNA, but the judicial magistrate on November 12 turned down the police plea saying that the charges could not be dropped at the investigation level by solely relying on the plea that the suspect was in Lahore on the day of the incident.
The plea can be only determined at the trial stage by a sessions judge.
The MNA while talking to The Express Tribune thanked the independent and unbiased judiciary. “Rape is such a heinous crime that the perpetrator can not be called a human being”, Ayaz Amir said. He said some of his political opponents blew up the case out of proportion and provided counsels to the girl.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2011.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) here on Wednesday quashed a rape case against an opposition legislator from Chakwal, absolving him of all charges.
Justice Ijaz Ahmed of LHC’s Rawalpindi bench set aside the decision of a lower court which had earlier ordered registration of an FIR against Ayaz Amir, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member of the National Assembly.
Calling the charges “baseless and politically-motivated”, the columnist-turned politician said that he was not present in Chakwal on May 22, the day when a 15-year-old married girl was sexually assaulted. The judicial magistrate did not take the police investigation into consideration, he said.
The police had registered an FIR against 11 persons including the MNA on the charges of rape, abetment and criminal intimidation. The victim’s husband, Muhammad Jamshaid, and sister-in-law, Naseem Komal alias Simi, were also booked for allegedly forcing the girl into prostitution.
According to the FIR, Farooq Ahmed, a resident of Langa Village in Chakwal complained that his niece had married to Jamshaid, who had already two wives. One of them approached the area union council against her husband for marrying a teenaged girl and sought help to resolve the issue.
The girl was taken by her sister-in-law to the MNA on May 22 who allegedly raped her in his house.
The city police, however, stated that there is no evidence to support the allegations against the MNA, but the judicial magistrate on November 12 turned down the police plea saying that the charges could not be dropped at the investigation level by solely relying on the plea that the suspect was in Lahore on the day of the incident.
The plea can be only determined at the trial stage by a sessions judge.
The MNA while talking to The Express Tribune thanked the independent and unbiased judiciary. “Rape is such a heinous crime that the perpetrator can not be called a human being”, Ayaz Amir said. He said some of his political opponents blew up the case out of proportion and provided counsels to the girl.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2011.