Police get remand of train gang-rape suspects for three more days

Karachi: A court on Wednesday extended police remand of five suspects in a case pertaining to the alleged gang rape of a female passenger on the Bahaudin Zakaria Express.

The 25-year-old victim was travelling alone in an economy class when the ticket checker offered her a seat in the air-conditioned compartment of the Multan-Karachi train, where he along with other train employees subjected her to sexual abuse.

On Wednesday, the railways police produced three key suspects — Muhammad Zahid, Aqib Munir, and Muhammad Zohaib — and their alleged facilitators, Amir Raza and Abdul Hafeez, before Judicial Magistrate (South) Syed Anwar Ali Shah. All the detained suspects are employees of the train privately run between Multan and Karachi. The investigating officer, Habibullah Khattak, informed the court that the suspects had recorded and later shared inappropriate videos of the victim using their cell phones that are yet to be recovered. They will be questioned about the whereabouts of their mobile phones, he said, pleading with the court to extend their physical remand.

The magistrate handed over the suspects to the police for three more days and directed the IO to produce them all on the expiry of their physical remand along with an investigation report.

An FIR has been lodged at the Railways police station under Section 377 (punishment for rape) and 34 (common intent) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The victim, who is also complainant of the case, had reported her ordeal to the railway police after getting off the train on reaching Karachi.