KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Monday sent five employees of a privately managed train to prison for their alleged involvement in a case pertaining to the gang rape of a woman in moving train.

The court also directed the investigating officer of the case to submit the forensic analysis report of footage of gang rape made by the suspects.

The Railway police booked five employees — train manager and four ticket checkers — of the Bahauddin Zakaria Express for allegedly sexually assaulting a 25-year-old victim on May 27.

On Monday, the IO, Inspector Habibullah Khattak, produced all the held suspects before Judicial Magistrate (South) Shahnawaz upon expiry of their physical remand in police custody.

The magistrate inquired from the IO about the progress in the investigation.

He informed the court that during interrogation the suspects disclosed to have not only raped the victim on turns but also filmed the immoral incident in a bid to blackmail her.

He said the cell phones of the suspects had already been recovered to retrieve the alleged footage.

However, he requested for time to send the purported footage to the laboratory for its forensic analysis to determine its authenticity and submit a report.

He also requested the magistrate to grant an extension in the physical remand of the suspects.

Declining the request, the magistrate remanded them in judicial custody and directed the IO to produce them on the next date.

In the meanwhile, the magistrate also told the IO to submit a report of the forensic analysis of the purported mobile phone video on the next date.

On the last hearing, the victim had identified two of the five detained staffers of the train as the accused who had allegedly subjected her to a sexual assault and also facilitated their accomplices in this act.

According to the FIR, the woman was travelling in an economy class berth when the ticket-checker offered her a seat in the air-conditioned compartment of the train. Shortly afterwards, he took her to the other compartment where the train staffers took turns to sexually assault the woman and threatened her with dire consequences when she tried to escape.

A case was registered under Sections 377 (punishment for rape) and 34 (common intent) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the PR City Police Station on the complaint of the victim.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2022