KARACHI: Mystery over gang-rape victim’s case deepens
By Imran Ayub
KARACHI, Sept 22: Mystery surrounding the alleged gang rape of a young woman on the premises of a government hospital in Landhi has deepened with the Civil Hospital denying that the victim, who had claimed that she was a nurse, had never been associated with the health facility.
Officials said the Landhi police recently approached the Civil Hospital to verify the gang-rape victim’s statement about her being a qualified nurse only to discover that she had been economical with the truth.
“We have checked our records and no such nurse with that name has ever been associated with the Civil Hospital,” Nasrin Gill, nursing superintendent, told Dawn.
“We have formally informed the Landhi police and the police surgeon about our findings. The case has no further relevance with the Civil Hospital.”
The disclosure has left the investigators, who have had made little progress in the case, a little more baffled. Reports submitted to police suggest the 23-year-old victim went to the Landhi Medical Complex earlier this month to have the dressing changed on a skin problem.
The dressing was being changed by a ward boy, Asad, when ward boys Mehtab, Arshad, Junaid and Rashid entered the room and allegedly subjected her to gang rape. Reportedly, Asad tried but failed to prevent the crime and, at any rate, did not take part in the assault.
The case was registered (FIR No 160/07) under Section 376-ii of the Pakistan Penal Code, entitled ‘Punishment for Rape’ and substituted by the Protection of Women Act VI, 2006. The police later arrested Mehtab and Junaid while the other three are still at large.
“We were already a bit sceptical because the victim failed to convince the investigation team and kept changing her statements,” said Aziz Memon, the station house officer (SHO) of the Landhi police station.
He said he had his doubts about the mental health of the victim, but hastened to add that the chemical examination reports of the arrested accused would help in determining whether they had committed the crime or not.
“Actually we also have an eyewitness of the case. So, the case is not as simple as it appears and may take time to resolve,” he added.
Though a medical examination conducted at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Complex (JPMC) confirms the assault on the nurse, the police suspect that the crime was motivated by more than mere lust.
SHO Memon says he has reasons to believe the accused and the victim knew each other.
Meanwhile, a senior official said the investigation team comprising senior officials of the Sindh health department had not yet submitted a final report. They were given a week to complete the task by mid-September. They had failed to meet the deadline, he said.
He said the ministry was convinced that there was negligence on the part of the hospital management, where the assault took place, adding that he would raise such administrative issues with the officials concerned.
“The inquiry report has not yet been submitted due to administrative changes within the ministry, which seems to have put the issue on backburner,” he added. “But we hope the report would be finalized within next few days.”
