May 18, 2023
Staff report
LAHORE
Balochistan Police have arrested two close aides of provincial minister Noor Muhammad in Harnai for allegedly raping a 12-year-old boy for over 20 days.’
According to the FIR registered on May 13th by the rape survivor’s brother, the boy went missing about a month and a half ago. The police were informed about his disappearance on May 11th.
“The police informed the boy’s brother on May 13th that he had been recovered from the bungalow of provincial minister Noor Muhammad in Harnai. The recovered boy told his brother that he was raped by two men, Muhammad Farooq, and Muhammad Nawaz, for the last 20 days,”
the FIR reads.
The police registered the case under Sections 377 (Unnatural offences) and 364 A (Kidnapping of a person under the age of 14) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
However, the police should have registered a case under Section 376 (Rape) of the PPC because the FIR clearly states that the boy was subjected to rape. Under new anti-rape laws, this crime falls within the ambit of subsection 3 of section 376.
It states, “Whoever commits the rape of a minor or a person with mental or physical disabilities shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and fine.”
The SHO of the police station in Harnai, Sajjad Ahmed, told Voicepk that the police will add section 376 in the PPC if the family demands it or the court orders them.
He says the arrested accused have been shifted to jail on judicial remand.
“The rape survivor and accused have recorded their statements under section 164 of the CrPC. The boy, in his statement, maintains his accusation of rape against the two, while the accused denied their involvement,” the SHO says.
He adds that the police have sent the DNA samples of the survivor and the accused to the laboratory of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency in Lahore for chemical examination, and the accusation of rape can only be verified after the lab’s report.
He clarifies that the police are not under any pressure regarding this case, and the provincial minister has no role whatsoever in this incident.
Voicepk tried to contact provincial minister Noor Muhammad over phone calls for a comment but he didn’t respond to the calls.
In February 2023, Quetta police arrested the provincial minister of Communication and Works, Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran in connection with the murder of the three people, whose bodies were discovered in a well in Barkhan, near Kolhu.
However, he was later released in March after a session court granted him bail in a triple murder case. The complainant Gulnaz Marri accused the police of botching up the investigation under pressure from the minister.
