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Thursday March 28, 2024

LHC unhappy over failure to arrest Zainab’s killer

By our correspondents
January 16, 2018

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday directed the Punjab Police to utilise all other means of investigation too, apart from DNA, to trace out Zainab’s murderer, as it expressed annoyance over the failure to arrest the culprit.

Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, hearing a suo motu case and petitions, remarked it seemed that the Punjab government and police were not serious in handling the increase in the rape cases involving minors since 2015.

Addressing an additional inspector general (AIG), he said the life of little daughter of the nation Zainab could have been saved, had the police worked efficiently. As the hearing started, the AIG submitted a progress report and said the DNA analysis had established that the suspect(s) had also been involved in at least eight such previous cases since 2015.

A crime chart presented before the court showed that as many as 252 cases of rape with minor girls (under 10-year) had been registered in Punjab during 2016-17 and trial in 206 cases was pending. In four cases, culprits have been convicted, while 25 were acquitted.

During the same period, as many as 1,045 cases of sodomy with minor boys had been registered and 788 of these are pending in trial courts, while the accused in seven cases faced convictions and were acquitted in 139. The statistics revealed that 24 cases of rape-cum-murder involving minor girls had been reported in the province from 2016 to 2017 with four convictions and one acquittal, while 13 were still pending before the trial courts.

At least 19 cases of murder of minor boys after sodomy had been registered with the police in the province with four convictions and one acquittal. The AIG said a team of Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) stationed in the area (Kasur) carried out en-masse DNA sampling of prime suspects and 96 samples so far had been obtained, while over 200 suspects had been interrogated thoroughly.

The officer told the court that the involvement of the same suspect in the eight cases was established after extensive efforts of the forensic agency by developing DNA profile from old evidences. He said these efforts would not only bring the killer of Zainab to the book but also provide justice in cases of other minor victims including Asma, Tehmina, Ayesha, Noor Fatima, Iman Fatima and Kainat of the same district. The PFSA DG assured the court that the suspect(s) in Zainab’s case would be traced out soon.

The chief justice directed the police officials to also use means of the investigation to reach the suspects and submit a progress report by Wednesday (tomorrow). He directed the Punjab IGP and the JIT head to ensure their presence in the court on next hearing. The court also sought personal appearance of the education secretary to explain the steps being taken, if any, for awareness of children against sexual abuse.