LAHORE, July 26: The mother of a seven-year-old rape victim on Saturday appealed to Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sayed Zahid Hussain to direct the trial court to expedite dispensation of justice.

She made the appeal while talking to reporters after an additional district and sessions judge, Qamar Ijaz, adjourned the hearing in the Ferozewala rape case for a month. On the last date of hearing on June 26, the judge had fixed July 26 without holding any proceedings.

On March 11, Nusrat Bibi alleged, Zubair, Talha, Muzammil and Muzaffar raped her daughter at Sidhanwali village of Ferozewala. She said she found her daughter unconscious near fields.

She told reporters that she brought her sick daughter to record her statement and had waited for her turn to appear in court till 12pm only to know that the case had been further adjourned.

She said she could not take stand against the wrongdoers for prolonged trial as they were pressuring her for withdrawal of the case. The woman said the culprits had already made her left her house.

Her counsel Advocate Muhammad Irfan Mukhtar, who volunteered to represent the rape victim, said Nusrat found it extremely hard to travel to and from court for getting justice in the absence of any source of income.

Statements of Nusrat and Dr Nadia Rasheed, who conducted medico-legal examination of the girl, were already recorded in court which confirmed the minor was raped. The doctor said when the girl was taken to the hospital, she was in a critical condition.

Former IG police Azhar Hasan Nadeem had suspended from service DSP Khadim Hussain and SHO Sayed Riaz Shah of Narang Mandi police station for defending the main accused, Zubair, and not nominating him in the FIR. An FIR against the DSP and the SHO was also registered under Section 201 of PPC and Section 155 of the Police Order 2002 on March 16.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/27/2008