Fresh postmortems, DNA testing to be conducted. PHOTO: FILE
An additional deputy commissioner on Saturday accepted an application from the Islamabad police requesting a fresh postmortem and collection of DNA samples from the bodies of two girls who were allegedly raped and murdered by a couple.
Talking to The Express Tribune, a police official said the bodies of 11-year old Sehr* from Bhara Kahu and 22-year old Samia*, the daughter of a police officer, will be exhumed next week so that further tests could be carried out.
He said a doctor and magistrate will be assigned to collect DNA samples and conduct the postmortems.
However, sources at the National Forensic Science Laboratory (NFSL) suggested the police should have collected the evidence from the crime scene.
He said Sehr’s body was badly burnt, due to which no DNA samples could be collected to confirm whether or not she had been raped.
“The police sent us incomplete evidence from the crime scene. I don’t think that another postmortem of the bodies would help us,” he said.
He said senior police officials have been visiting NFSL daily and asking lab officials to collect samples again. “They want to involve lab officials to escape Supreme Court pressure,” he said, adding that the police officers are now asking NFSL to collect evidence from the crime scenes which is almost impossible as the bed sheet on which Samia was killed and the clothes she was wearing had been washed.
Sources said that the police carried out a postmortem on Samia when she was killed, but they collected no evidence from the body to ascertain whether the cause of death was natural or unnatural.
A police official requesting anonymity said it would not have been difficult to arrest the accused, Qamar* and his accomplice Maha*, if the police had thoroughly investigated the case and collected evidence from the crime scene as well as DNA samples from Samia’s body.
“The police might have saved Sehr’s life had they investigated the case thoroughly,” he said.
Maha and Samia were students at the same university. On the night of the alleged rape and murder, Maha had asked Samia to stay the night at her home and later told her that her boyfriend Qamar would drop by.
“Maha had left a window open for Qamar to enter through. He entered the room, force-fed Samia some intoxicating medicine and raped her in Maha’s presence before strangling her,” the police official said.
Last month, at a press conference after the arrest of the two accused, Inspector General of the Islamabad Police Bani Amin was asked why the police did not investigate Samia’s case, especially considering that she was a police official’s daughter, he said, “Maha persuaded the deceased’s family that she had died of a heart attack.”
Police sources also said that Maha is four-months pregnant, allegedly with Qamar’s child. “The police have asked NFSL to carry out DNA tests and confirm the child’s parentage,” the source said.
Qamar had claimed to be suffering from AIDS, and said he raped the women to cure himself. The claim was later proven to be false.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 24th, 2013.
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