Fort Munro case: Border military policemen cleared of rape charges

The victims did not identify the five men as rapists in their statements.

MULTAN:

A district court on Wednesday acquitted the five men charged with raping five tourists visiting Fort Munro after the latter did not identify them as the perpetrators of the crime.

Dera Ghazi Khan Additional Sessions Judge Justice Rana Abdur Rasheed dropped the charges against the five men after receiving the victims’ statements.  All five victims, in their statements, claimed the actual rapists were veiled during the crime and did not identify the five as the perpetrators.

Three of the five men who were in custody – namely Amjad, Naveed and Zafar – have been released from Dera Ghazi Khan central prison. They will appeal for reinstatement in the border military police following their acquittal.

The remaining two – Abdul Majeed Laghari and another unidentified suspect – were at large throughout case proceedings.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Zafar maintained his innocence and claimed all reports presented before the court were forged. Zafar had been denied bail earlier in the case after the medical report of one of the victims confirmed the two had had physical relations.

Meanwhile, Amjad told The Express Tribune that the case was ‘a conspiracy against the border military police’. Asked whether the men would consider legal action against the complainants, he said “we have forgiven them… our justice is their punishment.”

The three men’s tribes organised celebrations in Dera Ghazi Khan’s tribal areas following their release. They announced the celebrations will continue for a week.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2012.