MUZAFFARABAD: An additional district court on Saturday rejected bail before arrest of a man accused of sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl two weeks ago in the AJK capital.

Soon after the judgement was announced by additional qazi, Rasheed Gul, police took the 22-year-old accused into custody.

In his application submitted with the Chikar police station on April 18, the victim’s father said the incident happened outside his house in Katkair Village on April 13 when his daughter was returning home from school with her sister.

“At about 12:30pm, the accused intercepted my daughter and sexually abused her. The accused fled when the girl started yelling. She came home and told her mother what had happened,” he said, adding that his wife had also witnessed the incident from their home.

The complainant said his wife told him about the incident on April 14. He said he contacted the family members of the accused who engaged him in a jirga.

A day after he lodged the application in the police station, the accused moved a bail before arrest application in the additional district criminal court and pleaded not guilty.

The accused was represented by one lawyer while more than 50 lawyers volunteered to appear on behalf of the victim.

Of them, Central Bar Association Muzaffarabad President Maqboolur Rehman Abbasi, Raja Zaigham Iftikhar, Fazal Mehmood Baig, Kosar Awan and Khalid Bashir Mughal advanced arguments before the court, opposing grant of pre-arrest bail to the accused.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the additional district qazi held that the relevant record, prima facie, supported the allegation against the accused at this stage, and it was dealt by section 18 of the Zina Ordinance – a non-bailable offence. He observed that since the accused had also failed to establish mala fide intention against the complainant or police, he was not eligible for interim bail.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2018