KARACHI, Oct 9: Six persons, four of them press photographers, were arrested on Thursday for their alleged involvement in a gangrape case.

An FIR was lodged by a 19-year-old married woman, Ms ‘S’ who was a resident of Orangi Town and later moved to B-1 Area, Liaquatabad, claiming that she was subjected to gangrape twice.

Police said in a press statement that the FIR (No. 125/03) was registered on Thursday at Super Market police station following which the nominated accused, Noman Siddiqui, Mohammad Amin, Tahir Ahsan, Amir Ali, Kamran and Chand Mohammad were arrested.

Police claimed that the suspects had confessed to the gangrape. The police further claimed that the investigation made into the case revealed that the complainant’s husband, Niaz Mohammad, had been forcing her into prostitution.

The police said that nude photographs of Ms S were also recovered from the suspects’ possession.

The DIG Operations, Tariq Jamil, and TPO of Liaquatabad Tahir Naveed has announced cash rewards for the police party which arrested the suspects, according to the press release.

While efforts for the arrest of Niaz Mohammad were under way, the police intend to register another case against him.

Contrary to the police version, four of the held suspects — Noman, Tahir, Amir and Ameen, all press photographers — have contested the police claim saying that they were being implicated in a false case. The other suspects, Kamran and his father Chand Mohammad, happened to be owners of the house rented out to Ms S.

The photographers told Dawn at the Liaquatabad police station that they were not involved in the gangrape. Instead, they added, they tried to help out the victim as they were her neighbours. They maintained that on hearing the woman’s screams, they reached her house following the noise. However, they said, only two of them entered into the house while the others stayed outside all the time.

Amin said: “As I was about to get in, two men came out and ran away. I, with one of my companions, got into the house and saw the woman lying undressed. Both of us had cameras and we took her snaps before realizing that it was a case of gangrape. We provided clothes to the woman and called out neighbours before whom she narrated her ordeal.”

They quoted Ms S as saying that she had been subjected to gangrape. The four detainees said that they had taken her to police station for the registration of an FIR against the rapists and produced her photographs as evidence of gangrape. The SHO of the Super Market police station did record her statement but declined to register the FIR.

Later, the police conducted raids on the suspects’ houses and arrested them in wee hours of Thursday. The suspects’ families accused police of misbehaviour and said that they had forcibly entered into their houses.

The suspects also alleged that the police forced them to take offtheir clothes and walk through the streets housing their homes before taking them to the Liaquatabad police station where they were subjected to torture. They said that the police had been forcing them to confess to the gangrape which they never did.

Meanwhile, the SHO of Super Market police station, Najmul Hasan, has been placed under suspension for not registering the FIR.