KARACHI: A judicial magistrate recorded on Wednesday the confessional statement of a suspect detained for allegedly kidnapping a six-year-old girl and killing her after subjecting her to sexual assault in Korangi.

Police claimed to have arrested the man over his alleged involvement in the kidnap and murder of a minor girl, whose body was found from a garbage dump in the Korangi 5 1/2 area on July 28.

On Wednesday, the investigating officer moved an application before the judicial magistrate (East) Adil Nazir Sahito pleading to conduct identification parade of the suspect and also record his confessional statement under section 164 of the criminal procedure code.

The suspect was also produced before the magistrate.

After completing legal formalities, the judge inquired from the suspect whether he was recording his statement voluntarily or someone had forced him to do so since such a statement could be used against him during the trial.

The court staffers said the suspect denied being pressurized and recorded his statement.

A court staffer confirmed that the suspect admitted to his offence and disclosed that after raping the minor girl, he was afraid of being caught, therefore, he decided to kill her to hush up his crime.

After recording his statement, the judge sealed its contents to be opened in the trial court, if and when needed.

The suspect was remanded in judicial custody.

However, the judge dismissed a second application moved by the IO for conducting identification parade of the suspect by eyewitnesses.

The judge remarked that a picture of the suspect had already been displayed in the mainstream and social media widely seen by the public at large.

Under the provisions of the Qanoon-i-Shahadat Order, it is mandatory for the police to ensure that the identity of the suspect is neither disclosed to the witnesses or the complainant, until an identification parade is conducted by the court.

On Tuesday, the administrative judge of the antiterrorism courts had remanded the suspect in police custody for five days for interrogation, completion of the investigation and submission of an investigation report.

The IO had claimed that the suspect had confessed to his crime during the initial interrogation in police custody while his “DNA sample had also matched with those of the victim.”

According to the complainant, who is the victim’s father, the suspect is their neighbour.

He said that on the night the crime was committed, his three daughters had gone into the street at around 9pm after a power breakdown in their area. He added that at around 11pm, his two daughters returned home but the third did not come back.

The complainant further said that they searched for the girl till the following morning, when someone spotted the body of his daughter along the wall of a school in the area.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2021