Pakistan Gender News Voice of Gender News From Pakistan
By Ishaq Tanoli
KARACHI: The investigation officer submitted on Tuesday a charge-sheet against two traffic police constables in a case pertaining to the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of a three-year-old girl.
Sexual assault was not initially included in the charge-sheet, but medical evidence from the chemical examiner’s office confirms that the child was subjected to it before her death, and it was therefore inserted into the charge-sheet by the investigation officer.
The suspects, Bashir Ahmed and Noor Mohammad, were charged with kidnapping three-year-old Sana on July 3 when she was playing with her friends near their house in Korangi and then dumping the body in a manhole near the FTC building after killing her.
The charge-sheet was filed in the court of the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts in Karachi.
The investigation officer stated in the charge-sheet that two witnesses, Mohammad Yasin and Mugheer Ahmed, had identified both the suspects during an identification parade held in the court of a judicial magistrate and assigned their role in the commissioning of the crime, while the witnesses also recorded their statements against the suspects under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code before the JM. He added that Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code was inserted in the charge-sheet following the receipt of the chemical examiner’s report, which confirmed that the girl was also subjected to sexual assault. The IO placed 19 prosecution witnesses in the charge-sheet.
After accepting the charge-sheet, the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts in Karachi, Justice Abdur Rahman Faruq Pirzada of the Sindh High Court, transferred the case to ATC-I for trial.
A case (FIR No. 331/2009) was registered against the suspects under Sections 364, 376 and 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with the Section 6(b) punishable under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act on the complaint of the victim’s uncle, Abdul Hashim, at the Zaman Town police station.
Both the suspects were arrested on July 5 and the deceased’s body was recovered from a manhole near the FTC building on a lead given by them. Later, both the suspects were remanded in jail custody.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/29/2009
