Sessions judge ruled prosecution fail to produce four witnesses
2008. Last month, Karachi East Additional District and Sessions Judge Ghulam Mustafa Laghari acquitted the men in the retrial. Photo: Online
The Sindh High Court (SHC) has admitted an appeal against the sessions court’s verdict to acquit three men in the retrial of a case pertaining to the gang rape of an eighteen-year-old woman in premises of Mazar-e-Quaid.
The then Mazar-e-Quaid Management Board’s Assistant Manager Security Khadim Hussain, Personal Staff Officer (PSO) of the Resident Engineer Arif Ansari and an Accountant Raja Muhammad Arif were charged with raping a newly wed teenager in an underground room of mausoleum in March 2008.
Last month, Karachi East Additional District and Sessions Judge Ghulam Mustafa Laghari acquitted the men in the retrial. This court said the prosecution had not produced enough evidence through their witnesses. This judge also ruled that the value of a DNA test as evidence was not acceptable in a case falling under the penal provision of zina punishable under the Hudood laws, which have their own “standard of proof” (confession, four male witnesses).
Now, the victim has approached the SHC against the sessions judge’s verdict.
Barrister Amna Usman, who is representing the victim, in the appeal filed before the SHC has maintained that the sessions court passed the judgment on the ground that in Zina cases, the standard of proof is different as compared to the standard in the cases under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
It was submitted that this is an error as the FIR and the accused were charged under section 376 of PPC.
SHC admitted the appeal and issued notices to petitioner and the respondents. It has also fixed the case for regular trial.
The Quaid-e-Azam mazaar gang rape case history
The Quaid-e-Azam mazaar case dates to 2008. Crime reporters were shaking their heads in disbelief when their syndicate erupted with news that a woman had been raped at Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s mausoleum—only one of the most revered national symbols of Pakistan, the founding father’s final resting place. This story made every single heinous crime they had ever reported pale in comparison.
The eighteen-year-old woman had come from Punjab and was visiting the mazaar with her new husband and family on March 15, 2008.
She told the police later on that she and her husband had arrived earlier than the rest of the relatives. Her husband left her in a spot to go fetch them from outside. Two people approached her, one aimed a pistol at her and the other forced a handkerchief over her mouth. They took her to a room where three more people arrived. She was forced to drink something and was raped.
Two days later, in the early hours of March 17, Rangers jawans found her stumbling around in an unstable condition outside the mazaar.
Her father had registered FIR No 50/2008 under Sections 365-B (kidnapping with intent to commit Zina) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with 376(ii) of the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act 2006 at Brigade police station.
By March 18, she was taken to Civil Hospital Karachi for a medico-legal examination. Woman Medico-Legal Officer Dr Rohina Hassan collected swab samples and sent them to Islamabad’s Institute of Biomedical and Genetic Engineering (IBGE) along with her clothes for forensic analysis.
On March 20, the police took the mazaar’s Assistant Manager for Security Khadim Hussain into custody after the victim identified him in a line-up. The two other men accused of raping her, Personal Assistant to the Resident Engineer of the Quaid-e-Azam Management Board Arif Ansari and Accountant Raja Muhammad Arif were arrested after the DNA report confirmed their involvement.
The investigating officer submitted his charge sheet against the accused men before a magistrate and the case was sent to a Karachi East District and Sessions Judge by June 7, 2010.
During the trial, IBGE Principle Scientific Officer Dr Abdul Hameed told the court that the DNA profile of the victim’s stained clothes matched with the DNA profile obtained from the semen and blood samples taken from Khadim Hussain. And it was a 100% match for the other two men, Arif Ansari and Raja Muhammad Arif.
However, by April 6, 2013, Karachi East District and Sessions Judge Nadeem Ahmed Khan acquitted the men accused of raping the woman. In his judgement, Judge Nadeem Ahmed Khan did not treat DNA reports as evidence. He observed that while the reports might be helpful in establishing the parentage of a child and other purposes, their utility and evidentiary value was not acceptable under the Hudood laws since these laws had their own standard of evidence.
The victim went into appeal against the acquittal. She pleaded with the Sindh High Court that the trial judge had ignored the evidence and referred to Islamic law even though the case had been registered under the Pakistan Penal Code. (FIR No 50/2008 under Sections 365-B for kidnapping with intent to compel a woman to illicit intercourse of the Pakistan Penal Code read with 376(ii) for gang rape of the Protection of Women Criminal Laws Amendment Act 2006 at Brigade police station).
The verdict on her appeal came on May 21, 2021. Justice Salahuddin Panhwar set aside the initial judgment to acquit by the Karachi East District and Sessions Judge. He then sent the case back to the trial court with instructions that it pass a fresh judgement strictly in accordance with the law.
On October 5, 2021, Karachi East Additional District and Sessions court acquitted the men in the retrial.
This court said the prosecution was not able to produced enough evidence through their witnesses. It also ruled that the value of a DNA test as evidence was not acceptable in a case falling under the penal provision of zina punishable under the Hudood laws.
The Sindh High Court (SHC) has admitted an appeal against the sessions court’s verdict to acquit three men in the retrial of a case pertaining to the gang rape of an eighteen-year-old woman in premises of Mazar-e-Quaid. The then Mazar-e-Quaid Management Board’s Assistant Manager Security Khadim...
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