Victim points finger at mazar guard

KARACHI, March 19: The young woman who says she was subjected to rape on the premises of the Mazar-i-Quaid has identified a security guard posted at the mausoleum as one of the suspects, police said.

However, police are yet to formally arrest any suspect in the case registered under Section 365/B of the Pakistan Penal Code. The section was inserted in the PPC through the Protection of Women Act 2006.

An 18-year-old woman was kidnapped from the mazar on the night of March 15. She was found in a semi-conscious state at the main gate of the mazar in the small hours of Monday.

The young woman, resident of Lodhran in Punjab, had come to the city after visiting the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan with her husband, father and others. The group was travelling in two cars. Police said the woman recognized a security guard who was presented before the victim with some other staff of the mausoleum.

“However, when we asked if she was hundred per cent sure about the identification of the security guard, the woman apparently got confused, saying that she was not cent per cent sure,” a senior police officer told Dawn.

The officer said that if the victim had positively identified the suspect, police would have arrested him which would have been followed by an identification parade before the magistrate.

Source: Dawn
Date:3/20/2008