Man who ‘sexually abused’ teenager in car denied bail

A sessions court has dismissed another bail application of an alleged sex offender arrested on charges of kidnapping and sexually abusing a teenage boy in his car. Shahbaz has been charged with abduction and rape of the 15-year-old boy within the jurisdiction of the Baloch Colony police station in January 2022. Additional Sessions Judge Ashraf Hussain Khowaja rejected the bail application of the accused after hearing arguments from both sides. He observed that the previous bail applications of the accused had been dismissed on merit, adding that he filed the fresh plea after the deposition of the victim but no fresh ground had accrued to him to make out a case for concession of bail.

The defence lawyer argued that there were contradictions in the victim’s deposition before this court and his statement recorded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) by a judicial magistrate, pleading with the judge to grant his client post-arrest bail.

On the other hand, Legal Aid Society's lawyer Behzad Akbar Gabol, who represented the complainant, contended that the victim fully implicated the accused in his statement and also pointed out the place of the incident before the police. He said the accused’s medical report was declared positive. He alleged that the accused was a habitual sex offender as he had also been nominated in another sodomy case lodged at the same police station. The court was requested to dismiss the bail application. An FIR was registered under section 356 (kidnapping), 377 (unnatural sexual offence) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Baloch Colony station on the compliant of the victim boy’s father.