Court Acquits Three In Mazar-E-Quaid Rape Case

KARACHI: A court has ruled that DNA test as evidence is not acceptable in the Mazar-Quaid Rape from 2008 as it fell under Zina, part of the Hudood laws, which has a “different standard of proof” and exonerated the accused.

“Whoever accuses another of Zina, they must bring forward four witnesses to support their allegations and, if they can’t, are liable to suffer punishment as prescribed in Ayat No. 4 of Surah Al-Noor,” ruled Ghulam Mustafa Laghari, the Additional District and Sessions Judge (East).

He ruled this during the retrial of the Mazar-i-Quaid gang rape case from 2008. The court had already acquitted all the three accused.

“The DNA test may help in establishing child lineage, but it is unacceptable in cases that fall under the penal provisions of Zina punishable under the Hudood laws.” the judge wrote in a detailed verdict which exonerated the accused, giving them the “benefit of the doubt”.

The accused, a then assistant manager of security, an accountant and a personal assistant to the resident engineer of the Quaid-i-Azam Management Board, were all charged with kidnaping an 18-year-old woman and sexually assaulting her on the night of 15th March 2008. She was later found unstable in the mausoleum on 17th March. Rangers personnel had handed her over to the Brigade police.

According to the verdict, the judge remarked that Dr Rohina Hassan, Medico-Legal Officer, observed no mark of violence on the victim’s body, who was very sluggish.

The court pointed out that the victim’s clothes, provided as evidence, were not sealed. At the same time, Dr Ghulam Sarwar Channa, the prosecution witness, said that he did not see any injury on the accused’s body regarding rape.

“DNA can be taken from any bodily fluid. While tests in Pakistan mostly utilize DNA from blood cells, cells from the cheek using a mouth wash or cells from a person’s hair are also available”, the judge said of the medical evidence provided.

“Prosecution has failed to produce sufficient evidence through their witnesses of the incident,” he ruled.

“The prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case against the accused persons beyond any shadow of a doubt. As such, the accused persons are given the benefit of the doubt and acquitted under Section 265-H(i) of the Criminal Procedure Code,” the judge wrote in the verdict.