Guilty before trial: ‘Won’t play the devil’s advocate’
Lawyers decide not to represent teenagers accused of murdering eight-year-old boy.
GILGIT:
Lawyers of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) have decided not to extend legal support to the three teenagers apprehended for allegedly sexually abusing and murdering an eight-year-old boy in Gilgit last week.
“We have decided not to fight their cases in the court of law,” said district bar president Raja Zia while speaking to The Express Tribune on Saturday. “Like all others, the gruesome murder has left us in a state of shock and we think the perpetrators do not deserve any legal support,” he added.
Heinous crime
The three teenagers had allegedly bludgeoned the eight-year-old to death with stones, cut off his ears, stabbed him multiple times and dumped the body in a cave some 500 meters away from his home in Majini Mohallah, Gilgit last Saturday. The accused had confessed before the police that they murdered the minor before he would tell anyone he was sodomised by them three months ago.
The murder sparked anger in the city and brought the issue of child abuse to the fore. Members of civil society organised a rally demanding the state to try the accused under anti-terrorism laws and announce severe punishments. Clerics from all sects also condemned the act, calling it a crime against humanity.
The mystery of the eight-year-old’s disappearance and murder was resolved by Gilgit’s Crime Investigation Department with the help of newly-installed CCTV cameras.
While the lawyers have refused to act as their counsel, Zia says that the fraternity is not concerned if the government provides lawyers to the accused.
Cases of child abuse rarely surface in Gilgit primarily because of the taboos associated with the subject.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 16th, 2014.
Lawyers of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) have decided not to extend legal support to the three teenagers apprehended for allegedly sexually abusing and murdering an eight-year-old boy in Gilgit last week.
“We have decided not to fight their cases in the court of law,” said district bar president Raja Zia while speaking to The Express Tribune on Saturday. “Like all others, the gruesome murder has left us in a state of shock and we think the perpetrators do not deserve any legal support,” he added.
Heinous crime
The three teenagers had allegedly bludgeoned the eight-year-old to death with stones, cut off his ears, stabbed him multiple times and dumped the body in a cave some 500 meters away from his home in Majini Mohallah, Gilgit last Saturday. The accused had confessed before the police that they murdered the minor before he would tell anyone he was sodomised by them three months ago.
The murder sparked anger in the city and brought the issue of child abuse to the fore. Members of civil society organised a rally demanding the state to try the accused under anti-terrorism laws and announce severe punishments. Clerics from all sects also condemned the act, calling it a crime against humanity.
The mystery of the eight-year-old’s disappearance and murder was resolved by Gilgit’s Crime Investigation Department with the help of newly-installed CCTV cameras.
While the lawyers have refused to act as their counsel, Zia says that the fraternity is not concerned if the government provides lawyers to the accused.
Cases of child abuse rarely surface in Gilgit primarily because of the taboos associated with the subject.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 16th, 2014.