ISLAMABAD: Human rights activists on Friday alleged that the two suspects in the F-9 rape case were extrajudicially killed by the police.

Addressing a news conference at the National Press Club on Friday, eminent human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, who is also counsel for the rape victim, appreciated the arrest of the suspect but questioned the motive behind killing the suspects Rights activists Farzana Bari and Tahira Abdullah were also present on the occasion.

The human rights activists have taken strong exception to the whole incident and claimed that the police should not have taken the law into their own hands and referred the case to court.

They accused the police of custodial killing and stressed that the law should take its course.

Suspects were arrested by police on Feb 15 and taken to CIA police station at I-9, Mazari-Hazir claims

Ms Mazari-Hazir said the two suspects were arrested by the police on Feb 15 and taken to the CIA police station in I-9 sector.

The suspects were identified by the survivor of the attack in the police station, Ms Mazari said, adding that the suspects were traced through their mobile phones.

She said later the police asked the rape victim to identify the two after their bodies were brought to Pims and she recognised them.

However, Ms Mazari said they were not killed in an encounter and were already under custody. The key question is why the police were trying to hide certain facts, she added.

“The double confirmation proves that the real culprits were arrested by the police successfully, but what information were the police trying to hide through this act of killing them,” Ms Mazari-Hazari said.

Based on the information, she already had being the victim’s lawyer, Ms Mazari said the two suspects had confessed to committing 50 rapes and assaults in the past.

“Since people would ask the police about actions taken over previous crimes by these two persons, or possibly to protect someone, the police killed them,” Ms Mazari alleged.

Farzana Bari said there was a general notion that the judicial process was a lengthy one and the victims faced indirect harassment in court proceedings. But there is a need to change this system.

“Awarding punishment is not the responsibility of the police, but the mandate of courts,” she added.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2023