JPMC rape: Judicial inquiry sought
KARACHI: A sister of the trainee nurse who was recently sexually assaulted in the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre demanded on Sunday a judicial inquiry into the “abduction and gang-rape” of her sister to unmask and punish the culprits behind the heinous act.
Shehla Ashraf, the sister of the rape victim, a third-year student at the School of Nursing of the JPMC, told a press conference that her family was being pressurised to stop pursuing the case. However, she did not name the persons putting such pressure on the family.
She demanded that the government provide protection to her family and take measures for better treatment of her sister.
Flanked by representatives of different human and Christian rights organisations, she called upon the president, the prime minister, the chief justice of Pakistan and others to order a judicial inquiry by a judge of the Sindh High Court into the incident to provide justice to her sister.
The rights representatives condemned the abduction and gang-rape of the trainee nurse and said it was more deplorable that such an incident took place at a state-run hospital.
They criticised the government for ignoring the incident, concealing facts and taking measures aimed at saving the medico-legal officer booked and arrested for raping and trying to kill the trainee nurse.
They asked all human rights and social welfare organisations, particularly the Pakistan Nursing Council, to register their protest against the incident.
“We believe that the doctor (rape suspect) was being given protection on the pretext of his treatment. We demand that the Aga Khan University Hospital management hand over the doctor to police for the completion of legal requirements,” they added.
Rape suspect
Meanwhile, the rape suspect was discharged from the hospital and handed over to the police on Sunday.
The suspect, a medico-legal officer, was under treatment at a private hospital and after his detailed medical examination, doctors allowed the police to take his custody. He was shifted to the Jamshed Quarters police station.
Till the filing of this re-port, the police had not recorded the statement of the suspect.
On July 13, the trainee nurse was found unconscious on the lawns of a mess in the JPMC residential area.
The FIR said that she jumped from the window of the MLO’s apartment to save her life when she was allegedly assaulted by him.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/19/2010
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