Lahore magistrate sends female suspect to jail on judicial remand in Azeri woman's rape case

LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Saturday sent a woman suspect to jail on a 14-day judicial remand in connection with a case of an Azeri woman’s rape. The 20-year-old Azerbaijan national had travelled to Pakistan for business purposes and was allegedly gang-raped by three men in a rented flat of a private housing society near Raiwind on the night between Sept 25 and Sept 26. Two of those men had been arrested and were sent on a six-day physical remand on Tuesday. In her statement , the complainant had named two women with whom she had met before the men accused of raping her gathered with them at an apartment. One woman had secured pre-arrest bail while the other was arrested and sent on a three-day physical remand on Wednesday. On Saturday, upon the completion of her remand, the police produced the woman suspect before Magistrate Azhar Mahmood.

The investigating officer told the magistrate that as further custody of the suspect was not required for investigation, she could be sent to jail on judicial remand. Subsequently, the magistrate allowed the request and sent the suspect on a 14-day judicial remand until Oct 17. Meanwhile, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Investigation Syed Zeeshan Raza noted that a total of three suspects have been arrested so far, while one was still at large. Addressing a press conference, the DIG said swabs of the survivor and the suspects were taken and sent to the forensic science agency for further investigation. The ages of the suspects were between 25 and 30 years. He also claimed that the suspects had confessed to their crime and police were continuing their investigation. DIG Raza said the suspects had threatened the woman for having contacts with influential people and stopped her from approaching the police. Survivor’s statement The…