Abdul Sattar
MARDAN: Hassan Rahim, the father of two sisters arrested in the murder of four-year-old Iqra, dismissed the police claim that his daughters have killed the girl, saying that police have taken their confessional statements through torture.
On the other hand, Dr Khalid, head of the forensic Laboratory of Bacha Khan Medical College, repudiated the claim of police and said that medical reports have proved that the four-year-old girl Iqra was raped before murder.
The 14-year-old Fatima and 13-year-old Nadia were produced before the Judicial Magistrate Shiraz Khan, after the completion of their remand, where they denied the allegation level against them and told the judge they were forced to accept the charges. According to sources, they verbally told the magistrate that they were forced to confess to the police and keep the honour of the village by offering sacrifice for time being and to protect the people of the area from police arrest. The Medical Board has earlier declared the accused Fatima as 14-year-old instead of 18-year-old.
Police had arrested several suspects in Iqra murder case and blood samples were also obtained from dozens of people for DNA. The medical report described the girl as “sexually abused” but it was rejected by police officials. On September 2, the District Police Officer (DPO) Sajjad Khan in an emergency conference told the media that police have solved the blind murder of case of a four-year-old girl and arrested two neighbouring sisters. Sajjad Khan had claimed that both the girls have accepted their crime before the police.
Hassan Rahim accused the police of torturing his wife and children. He appealed to the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of Pakistan to direct police to re-conduct the inquiry proceedings and arrest the actual killers. After the doctor’s statement, the question mark arises on an inquiry conducted by the police. If the girl 4-year- girls were sexually abused before her murder, then who is the real killer, the sisters or someone else?
