KARACHI: A suspect escaped from a sessions court on Thursday after the judge rejected his application for pre-arrest bail in a case pertaining to alleged sexual harassment of a female doctor at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD).

Police claimed to have booked Syed Zaid, alias Colonel, for allegedly harassing a female doctor at the government health facility, criminal intimidation and extorting money from her through blackmail in Dec 2019.

On Thursday, the suspect moved an application before the additional district and sessions judge (South) Aurangzeb Shah seeking pre-arrest bail in the case.

The defence counsel for the suspect pleaded to the court to grant bail to the applicant and denied the allegations.

The complainant female doctor’s counsel Nasir Ahmed contended that the applicant was involved in sexually harassing his client and had also extorted Rs600,000 from her allegedly through blackmail.

During the hearing, the complainant was also present and narrated her story.

Investigating officer Waheed Iqbal informed the court that serious allegations had been levelled by the complainant against the applicant, who also had a criminal history.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the judge dismissed the application seeking grant of pre-arrest bail to the applicant.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2020