Zainab's rape, murder case: Court gives police 36 hours to arrest culprit

Zainab's rape, murder case: Court gives police 36 hours to arrest culprit

Lahore (Staff Report): The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday ordered the Inspector General Punjab (IGP) to arrest the culprit responsible for 6-year-old Zainab's killing and rape within 36 hours.

LHC Chief Justice (CJ) Syed Mansoor Ali Shah heard a petition filed by Advocate Shaheem Pirzada to arrest the culprit.

The court ordered the police to submit details of all the cases of child sexual abuse that had taken place in the area, adding that he would also sought a report on the cases from the session judge.

Earlier, the Punjab Government replaced head of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed to investigate killing and rape of Zainab.

After the seven-year-old girl’s father expressed reservations over Abu Bakar Khuda Bakhsh heading the JIT, the provincial government appointed RPO Multan Idress Ahmad to head the probe.

“It has been learnt that the JIT head – Additional IGP Abubakar Khuda Bakhsh – is a ‘Qadiani’,” said Mr Ameen at a press conference in Kasur on Thursday while rejecting the probing team’s leader tasked by the Punjab chief minister.

Shehbaz Sharif had on Wednesday constituted a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) comprising members of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB).

“We don’t have trust in the JIT head,” the victim’s father stated and appealed to “replace him with a Muslim”.

Abubakar Khuda Baksh is the same officer who led a five-member JIT formed by the provincial government to investigate the massive child abuse and extortion scandal in Hussain Khanwala village of Kasur district.

Zainab was found raped and killed Wednesday, five days after she had gone missing from her home. Police say the girl was kidnapped near her home when she was on her way to take a Quran class. Her parents were in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.