Alleged rape in DHA: Police, doctors uncertain whether girl jumped or was pushed off

Medical examination suggests the girl was not raped, family claims she is mentally unfit.

KARACHI: The falling of the young girl from the balcony of a second floor apartment in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) has become a mystery for investigators as they try to ascertain whether the girl was pushed or she jumped off the balcony on her own.

Police and doctors are also unclear as to whether the girl was subjected to rape and if the accused attempted to kill her. The police have, however, booked the accused, Khalid Baloch, on the charges of rape and attempted murder.

Earlier on Monday night, police officials had claimed that Baloch had picked up the girl near Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine and taken her to his flat in DHA Phase II Extension. Clifton Division SP Sarfaraz Nawaz had claimed that, in the beginning, it was consensual, as the girl had come to the apartment at her own will. Later on, however, things had gone awry between the two. Police are trying to ascertain the point of dispute, which compelled the girl to jump off the balcony.



“We still stand by our statement but we have to register a case according to the girl’s statement as that is what the law tells us,” explained Defence SHO Chaudhry Irshad, while talking to The Express Tribune. An FIR No. 393/13 was registered at Defence police station on Tuesday. In the FIR, the police have placed different sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) — 376 and 377 (rape), 454 (to subject a girl to rape in broad daylight), 324 (attempt to murder), 337 (to injure after throwing) and 511 (use of force) and 354-A (assault or use of criminal force against a woman and stripping her of her clothes). The case was registered on behalf of the girl against Khalid Baloch who is already in police custody.

“I had gone to visit Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine and was waiting for a passenger bus when the accused (Khalid Baloch) stopped his car and asked me where I was headed to,” the girl said in her statement before the police. When she had told him she was on her way home in Keamari, he offered to drop her, she claimed. “He drove me to his apartment where he had a few drinks and then tried to rape me,” she said. The girl claimed that she had rushed to the balcony screaming for help when he had pushed her off.

Meanwhile, the girl’s family claimed that she is mentally unfit. “She often runs away from home due to her mental condition,” said the family sources.

The girl has been admitted to the special ward in Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where her medical treatment is underway. “In our reports we just stated that she fell. We did not state whether she jumped off the balcony or was thrown — albeit, she had no injuries to suggest she was actually pushed,” said Sindh police surgeon Dr Jalil Qadir. “There is also nothing to suggest she is mentally unfit,” he said, adding that the medical report has been reserved for the time being. Doctors believed, however, that the girl was not raped even though there was sexual activity.

Meanwhile, the accused, Khalid Baloch, was remanded to police custody till October 26 by a district and sessions court on Tuesday. The investigating officer, while requesting for a 14-day remand, told the court that he had gathered evidence from the crime scene and needed time for interrogation, adding that he had also sent samples of the victim and suspect for DNA testing.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2013.