ISLAMABAD: A man has been arrested and police are hunting for another for their alleged involvement in raping a girl and blackmailing her.

The suspect was produced in court from where he was sent on a four-day physical remand. Police said medical examination of the girl and the suspect had been conducted and samples collected for DNA testing.

The teenage girl resided with her handicapped parents while her elder sister lived with her husband, said the police.

A police officer told Dawn that an uncle of the victim reported the matter to the police after which an investigation was launched. The girl was raped over a month ago but as her parents were handicapped she did not inform them.

When the suspects started blackmailing the girl, her relatives caught one of the suspects and handed him over to the police, the officer said, adding a case was then registered against the two suspects.

The FIR said the girl went to a relative’s house on Aug 14 to deliver meat of a sacrificial animal. When she was standing outside the house, the two suspects overpowered and dragged her to a nearby under-construction house and raped her.

The suspects threatened her with dire consequences if she informed anyone about the incident.

The girl first brought the incident in the notice of her cousin but she advised her not to inform anyone, including the police, saying poor people never got justice in society, said the police officer.

But a few days ago one of the suspects intercepted the girl in a street and blackmailed her, saying he had a video of the early incident and would post it on the social media, the FIR said.

As a result, she got frightened and informed her sister and brother-in-law who later informed other relatives leading to the capture of one of the suspects.The officer said police would try its best to arrest the other suspect and bring the culprits to book and provide justice to the victim and her family.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2019