Police obtain remand of man accused of raping student

A judicial magistrate has remanded a man accused of sexually abusing a woman he befriended online to police custody for questioning about the alleged offence.

The accused, identified as Usama Bashir, was arrested by the Sharea Faisal police two weeks after he allegedly raped the woman in Gulshan-e-Iqbal’s Block 10-A on June 16.

Police produced the accused before the judicial magistrate (East) and requested his physical remand for 14 days. The investigating officer said the man needed to be interrogated about his involvement in the crime, while his custody was also needed for the criminal record office and to fulfil other legal obligations.

Turning down the IO’s plea, the court handed over the accused to the police for only two days, ordering him to bring him to court after the expiration of the remand, along with an investigation report.

An FIR had been registered against the man at the Sharea Faisal police station under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The woman said in her complaint that she is a student who befriended the accused, the owner of a

construction firm, on Facebook a few days before the incident.

She said he promised her a job and asked her to visit his office in Gulshan-e-Iqbal’s Block 10-A with her educational documents. She added that on June 16, when she reached his office, she found him alone.

The woman said he talked to her for a while before coming closer to her and then sexually assaulted her, adding that he also recorded a video of her ordeal and threatened to share it on social media if she reported the crime to the police.