Charge sheet presented in court

KARACHI: A charge sheet against the main suspect in the Jinnah hospital rape case has been submitted to court. The suspect, Dr Abdul Jabbar Memon, was brought to court on a stretcher.

The police have submitted names of 20 people on the list of witnesses from the prosecution’s side. According to the police, witness statements, medical reports and other evidence proves that the trainee nurse at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) had been raped. The only document left is the DNA report, which is expected soon, they added.

Judicial magistrate Abdul Qadir Memon gave copies of witness statements to Dr Memon and adjourned the hearing till August 24, when the charges against him shall be framed. Dr Memon, a former medico-legal officer (MLO) at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, is charged with raping the 22-year-old trainee nurse in the doctors’ flats at the hospital on July 13 and then throwing her out of his window in an attempt to kill her.

According to the hospital’s administration, the MLO was suspended from his post on disciplinary grounds 15 days before the incident. An FIR was registered against the MLO under section 234 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of JPMC security chief, Arshad Janjua. Janjua stated in the FIR that the doctor had thrown the nurse from his room.

Additional input from Online

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2010.