KARACHI, March 26: The civil judge and judicial magistrate, East, Javed Hussain, on Wednesday extended the physical remand of a security officer of the Mazar-i-Quaid till March 28 for his alleged involvement in the gang-rape of an 18-year-old woman on the premises of the mausoleum.

Police had arrested an assistant manager security of the mausoleum on March 20 in connection with the gang-rape of a young woman, who was subjected to sexual assault after being kidnapped on the premises of the mausoleum by unknown men on the night of March 15. She was found in an unstable condition outside the mausoleum on March 17.

The victim in her statement, recorded under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code, told the court that she was a resident of Lodhran and had come with her family to the city after visiting the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan. She added that they went to the Mazar-i-Quaid on the night of March 15.

Her husband went outside to bring in the remaining family members waiting in a bus. In the meantime, the power went off and around five men grabbed her by the hand and at gunpoint took her into a storeroom in the mausoleum, where they sexually assaulted her.

A case (FIR 50/08) was registered at the Brigade police station under Section 365-B of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of her father. The section was inserted in the PPC through the Protection of Women Act 2006.

The suspect was produced before the court amid tight security. The court told the investigation officer to present all the investigation record on the next date of hearing.

Meanwhile, police said they were looking for three staffers of the Mazar-i-Quaid security detail, who had been missing since March 17 following the recovery of the gang-rape victim outside the Mazar.

Police said that three members of the security and management staff had been missing. They had conducted raids at their respective homes, but failed to arrest any of them, said a senior police officer.

Police said that the missing men could have a role in the crime otherwise there was no reason why they should go missing on the day the victim was found.
Source: Dawn
Date:3/27/2008