Rape case: Scared mother seeks transfer of daughter’s murder trial
The victim’s family was forced to move to Karachi following death threats, court told.
The witnesses of the cases were also being threatened and were therefore unable to testify in court. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
Sindh High Court (SHC) issued on Monday notices to the provincial prosecutor general to file comments on an application seeking transfer of a rape and murder trial from the Hyderabad sessions court to a Karachi court.
The single bench, headed by SHC chief justice Maqbool Baqar will take up the case on February 17. The petitioner, Jeema, had approached the court to seek a transfer of her 13-year-old daughter’s rape and murder case. Her lawyer, Faisal Siddiqui, submitted before the court that his client’s daughter was allegedly subjected to sexual abuse by two men - Ramji Bheel and Nisho Kolhi. Later, they had also forced her to consume poison on April 4, 2011, in Haji Maqsood Qaimkhani village located in Tando Allahyar district, he said.
The applicant said that her daughter was taken to a local hospital where the doctor had pronounced her dead and disclosed the cause of her death as “cardio vascular failure” without conducting an autopsy.
She recalled that, on the directives of the local court, the victim’s grave was exhumed to conduct legal formalities but the victim’s body had been missing. Jeema told the judge that the police had later arrested the accused, who had confessed before the court to have removed the body from the grave.
The lawyer informed the court that his client, along with other family members, had shifted to Karachi due to death threats from the accused and police officials, who were trying to hush up the facts.
The witnesses of the cases were also being threatened and were therefore unable to testify in court. The court was pleaded to order transfer of the trial to a court in Karachi.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2014.
Sindh High Court (SHC) issued on Monday notices to the provincial prosecutor general to file comments on an application seeking transfer of a rape and murder trial from the Hyderabad sessions court to a Karachi court.
The single bench, headed by SHC chief justice Maqbool Baqar will take up the case on February 17. The petitioner, Jeema, had approached the court to seek a transfer of her 13-year-old daughter’s rape and murder case. Her lawyer, Faisal Siddiqui, submitted before the court that his client’s daughter was allegedly subjected to sexual abuse by two men - Ramji Bheel and Nisho Kolhi. Later, they had also forced her to consume poison on April 4, 2011, in Haji Maqsood Qaimkhani village located in Tando Allahyar district, he said.
The applicant said that her daughter was taken to a local hospital where the doctor had pronounced her dead and disclosed the cause of her death as “cardio vascular failure” without conducting an autopsy.
She recalled that, on the directives of the local court, the victim’s grave was exhumed to conduct legal formalities but the victim’s body had been missing. Jeema told the judge that the police had later arrested the accused, who had confessed before the court to have removed the body from the grave.
The lawyer informed the court that his client, along with other family members, had shifted to Karachi due to death threats from the accused and police officials, who were trying to hush up the facts.
The witnesses of the cases were also being threatened and were therefore unable to testify in court. The court was pleaded to order transfer of the trial to a court in Karachi.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2014.