Lahore court grants police 6-day remand of two suspects in Azeri woman's gang-rape case

LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Tuesday allowed Defence C police a six-day physical remand of two suspects in a case against them over the alleged gang-rape of an Azeri woman.

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 located near Raiwind on the night between Friday and Saturday.

One of the prime suspects had been arrested on Monday, while another’s arrest surfaced on Tuesday. According to Lahore Deputy Inspector General (Investigation) Zeeshan Raza, police had identified the third suspect and were conducting raids to trace him.

On Tuesday, the police produced the two arrested men before Magistrate Azhar Mahmood at Cantonment Courts.

The investigating officer sought their 14-day physical remand for interrogation, collection of evidence and DNA examination.

However, the magistrate approved a six-day physical remand of the suspects.

The proceedings come a day after the foreign woman recorded her statement before Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Sagheer under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

On Sunday, Lahore police had requested federal authorities to place the names of the three prime suspects in the case on the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL), saying they had fled Lahore shortly after the alleged assault.

Police had also taken two close relatives and a domestic servant of one of the suspects into custody. The vehicle allegedly used in the incident had also been taken into custody.

The Defence C police had registered a case against three unidentified suspects on the woman’s complaint.

It is the second such case in which a foreign woman was reportedly gang-raped in the Defence C police station area during the last four months.

In June, two foreign women, nationals of the Netherlands and Venezuela, were allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted in the Defence C police station area.

According to the FIR, the women were abducted by five suspects, including a close relative of a senior political personality, who demanded ransom and subjected them to sexual assault during their captivity.