NEELUM VALLEY (Kashmir English): In Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)’s Neelum Valley, the accused arrested for kidnapping and raping a minor girl was handed over to the police by the Judicial Magistrate on a 6-day physical remand.
According to Superintendent of Police (SP) Khawaja Muhammad Siddique of Neelum Valley, the accused (54), a resident of Jagran and a labourer by profession, intercepted two sisters, aged 14 and 11, on Saturday afternoon as they were going to their aunt’s house.
The accused pretended to offer them a lift but took them to Muzaffarabad and entered a hotel on Old Kutchery Road at 7:19 PM, where he presented the girls as his daughters.
So much so, the accused paid the hotel bill with the money the girls had brought with them.
In the hotel room, he threatened the girls with murder and subjected the elder sister to sexual assault and rape whole the night, while the younger sister, tired from the journey, fell asleep.
When the girls did not return home, their parents tried to find them but failed and reached Athmuqam Police Station to file a missing person report on Sunday morning.
The accused left the hotel at 8am and boarded both sisters on a passenger coach going to Neelum Valley, instructing the driver to drop them at Kundal Shahi, which is the entrance to Jagran.
According to SP Siddique, the police had no information about the girls, but they actively started searching and checked the records of vehicles entering and exiting Neelum Valley Road.
Meanwhile, the girls reached Kundal Shahi and their parents took them home. It is reported that some people tried to resolve the matter locally through a ‘jirga’, but when the police received news of the girls’ return, they brought them to the police station and obtained important information from the victim girl about the accused’s identity and the hotel.
SP Khawaja Muhammad Siddique stated that a police team was immediately sent to Muzaffarabad and the hotel was located shortly.
The accused was identified from the hotel register and CCTV footage, after which he was arrested from the Tanga Adda neighbourhood with the help of Muzaffarabad City Police Station.
The accused was charged under Section 377-A of the Azad Penal Code, which states that anyone who rapes or commits an unnatural act with a minor shall be punished with death, or life imprisonment, or imprisonment which may extend to 10 years, and a fine of 20-50 lakh rupees.
Meanwhile, the police had the girl examined by a lady doctor, whose preliminary report confirmed ‘brutal rape’.
On Monday, the accused was presented before the District and Sessions Judge’s court, which remanded him to police custody until September 14.
AJK people demand exemplary punishment
This horrific incident sparked widespread outrage on social media, where users demanded exemplary punishment for the criminal so that no other would dare to target innocent children in the future.
Most users demanded that a special Crime Control Department (CCD) be established in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, similar to Punjab, to deal with rape incidents.
