Bail plea of accused in gang rape case dismissed

A sessions court has dismissed the bail application of an accused in a case pertaining to alleged gang rape of a young woman on the pretext of a job. Hashir and his friend Yasir Javed have been booked on charges of assaulting a divorced woman in their office on Sharea Faisal within the jurisdiction of the Tipu Sultan police station last month.

Additional Sessions Judge (South) Ashraf Hussain Khowaja dismissed the application of accused Yasir seeking confirmation of his interim pre-arrest bail. He recalled the bail granted to the accused, observing that he had been named in the FIR and fully implicated by the victim in her statements before a judicial magistrate and police.

The applicant’s lawyer contended that as per the victim’s medical examination report, no mark of violence was found on her body, nor was any positive finding made regarding the alleged commissioning of the sexual abuse. He said his client was blackmailed by the victim, who had friendship with co-accused Hashir.

Advocate Bahzad Akbar of the Legal Aid Society, representing the complainant, argued that there was no contradiction in the victim’s statements. He explained that the victim was unable to resist the assault due to intoxication, and therefore she had no visible violence marks on her body.

He stated that CCTV footage of the crime scene and DNA samples of the victim and accused had been sent to a forensic expert for analysis, but the reports were still awaited. He requested the judge to dismiss the bail application of the accused.

An FIR was lodged at the Tipu Sultan police station under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the woman’s complaint. She stated that she was looking for a job when she came in contact with Hashir.

The victim said that on May 11, the accused called her to the Matric Board Office in Nazimabad, from where he took her to his office in the PECHS area on the pretext of a job interview. She alleged that he forcibly had her smoke a cigarette containing some intoxicating substance, which left her semi-unconscious. Later, he and his friend Yasir sexually abused her, the woman added.