RAWALPINDI: All three police officials accused of involvement in a gang rape case have been dismissed from service, and the victim’s stolen money has been recovered from the suspects, Superintendent of Police (SP) Saddar Rai Mazhar Iqbal said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference, he said that the forensic laboratory report on DNA has not yet been received, but samples from all the suspects and the victim have been sent for testing.

He said the victim was offered police security and the option to move to Darul Aman, which she refused.

He said the police would move according to the law after the DNA report is received. He added that all three accused constables have been arrested and dismissed from police service.

The victim earlier this week had disputed an earlier statement she recorded with the magistrate, in which she had alleged that she was raped by four people including three police officials.

She told Area Magistrate Sumaira Alamgeer that she wanted to record a new statement because her last one was made under pressure.

Mr Iqbal said that the four suspects were arrested soon after the victim’s complaint was heard, and she recorded a statement in the court of the area magistrate on May 24 in which she identified the suspects.

She later told the area magistrate that she had been influenced and pressured by the media and NGOs to record her statement before the court. She also prayed for the cancellation of her earlier statement and sought to record a new one, which she said would be made of her own free will.

However, the area magistrate rejected her prayer and said she could not record another statement, and that her earlier statement was recorded of her own will and without pressure.

The four suspects were brought to the court of the judicial magistrate for further extension of their physical remand for another five days, but the judicial magistrate rejected the request and sent them to jail until June 11.

The victim was assaulted while she was out for Sehri in Bahria Town Phase-8 on the night between May 15 and May 16.

She alleged in her FIR that she was abducted and sexually assaulted by four people including three police officials.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2019