Key Takeaways
- A judicial magistrate allowed police a six-day physical remand of two suspects in the gang-rape of an Azeri woman.
- The victim, a 20-year-old Azerbaijan national, was allegedly gang-raped by three men in a rented flat.
- Police are conducting raids to trace the third suspect and have taken two relatives and a domestic servant into custody.
A Lahore court on Tuesday granted a six-day physical remand to two suspects in the case of a gang-rape of an Azeri woman, according to local reports.
The 20-year-old Azerbaijan national, who had travelled to Pakistan for business purposes, was allegedly gang-raped by three men in a rented flat of a private housing society near Raiwind on the night between Friday and Saturday.
One of the prime suspects was arrested on Monday, while another was apprehended on Tuesday. The third suspect is still at large, with police conducting raids to trace him.
The investigating officer sought a 14-day physical remand for the suspects, but the magistrate approved a six-day remand for interrogation, evidence collection, and DNA examination.
On Sunday, the foreign woman recorded her statement before Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Sagheer under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Lahore police have requested federal authorities to place the names of the three prime suspects on the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL), as they are believed to have fled Lahore shortly after the alleged assault.
The vehicle allegedly used in the incident has also been taken into custody, and two close relatives and a domestic servant of one of the suspects have been detained.
This case is the second such incident in the Defence C police station area during the last four months. In June, two foreign women, nationals of the Netherlands and Venezuela, were allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted in the same area.
The police had registered a case against three unidentified suspects on the woman’s complaint, and the incident highlights the ongoing challenges in addressing such crimes in the region.
