Lahore court extends remand of four suspects in case involving two foreign women

LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Monday granted Defence C police another four days of physical remand for four suspects arrested in a case concerning the alleged abduction and rape of two foreign women.

The suspects were produced before Judicial Magistrate Azhar Mehmood at the Cantonment Courts after their earlier remand expired. The investigating officer asked the court for further custody, saying police had recovered the suspects’ mobile phones and the vehicle allegedly used in the offence, while the recovery of money allegedly connected to the case was still pending.

Five suspects had been booked earlier this month over the alleged abduction and sexual assault after the two women — citizens of the Netherlands and Venezuela — were rescued. Four of the suspects were arrested and had previously been sent on a five-day physical remand.

Defence objections to further custody

Advocate Salman Shahid represented three of the suspects, while no lawyer appeared for the main suspect, who is reported to be related to a senior political figure. Opposing the request for further remand, the defence argued that police had not explained what progress had been made during the previous 10-day remand.

The counsel also said the complainants had identified only four suspects, but police were implicating additional people in the case. He further told the court that no identification parade of the suspects had yet taken place and argued that, under the law, the investigation should have been conducted by a female police officer. He also sought the discharge of the three suspects from the case.

After hearing both sides, the magistrate extended the physical remand of all four suspects for another four days.

SHO’s interim bail dismissed

In a separate development, a sessions court dismissed the interim pre-arrest bail of the station house officer of Defence C police for non-prosecution after he allegedly entered the official residence of the judicial magistrate hearing the case. Additional District and Sessions Judge Abdul Quddus passed the order after the SHO did not appear before the court when his interim bail expired.

According to the first information report, the SHO is accused of unlawfully entering the magistrate’s residence and threatening him. The FIR says the police officer entered the magistrate’s house at night and pressured him to speak by phone with Deputy Inspector General of Operations Faisal Kamran.

Addressing a press conference on July 5, DIG Kamran apologised to the judiciary over the incident, but defended the action, saying:

"if that had not happened, our media and international forums would have raised questions over our legal system"

Kamran also said police had been directed to treat the prime suspect like "any other criminal" despite his reported links to a senior government minister.

Serious charges in the case

Earlier this month, the two women gave testimony before the magistrate in which they described a multi-day ordeal involving alleged kidnapping, million-dollar extortion, physical assault and sexual abuse. The case includes charges under Section 375-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, dealing with rape, and Section 365-A, relating to kidnapping for extortion.