Pakistan Gender News Voice of Gender News From Pakistan
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday ordered conducting of polygraph tests of the alleged gang-rape victim Uzma Ayub and the accused charged in the rape case to find out the truth after all the DNA tests didn’t match with the accused persons, including the policemen and the two soldiers.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth had taken suo moto notice of the case of the alleged gang-rape of Uzma Ayub and murder of her brother Alamzeb.
Senior Superintendent of Police Investigation, Atiqullah Wazir informed the bench that DNA tests of none of the accused charged in the gang-rape case matched that of Uzma Ayub’s newborn baby girl.
The investigators produced the DNA result of the baby girl Zeba. The result showed that none of the accused including Zahid Iqbal, Atifullah, Imran, Juma Din, Jamal Anwar, Hakim Shah and Shakeel had fathered the infant.
However, the court directed the police investigation officer, Atiqullah Wazir, to carry out polygraph tests of both the victim and the accused at the Punjab Forensic Science Agency and submit the report on the next hearing as that was only option to know the truth about the alleged gang-rape of Uzma Ayub.
The polygraph test measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity while the subject is asked a series of questions. The belief is that deceptive answers will produce physiological responses that can be differentiated from those associated with non-deceptive answers.
The investigation officer informed the bench that the rape victim did not change her statement against the accused persons even after their DNA result did not match with the baby girl. The bench asked him to expand the investigation and investigate others in case he suspected them of involvement in the case.
However, the court rejected the unconditional apology of Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police Hakim Shah, the principal accused in the rape case, in the contempt of court case in which he and his supporters were accused of addressing public meeting in court premises and pressurising the trial court in the case. The court directed his lawyer to submit reply in the contempt case within 10 days. The accused persons and Uzma Ayub appeared in the case.
After the murder of Uzma Ayub’s brother Alamzeb and life threats to other family members, the provincial government on the directives of the high court had shifted the family to the Civil Quarters locality in Peshawar on January 18.
