Sea View murder case: IO given more time to submit charge sheet

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) granted more time to the investigation officer on Friday for submitting the final charge sheet in a case pertaining to the kidnapping, abuse and murder of a 13-year-old schoolgirl. The girl was taken away from her school in Federal B Area on September 24, 2013. Later, she was found dead at the Sea View beach on September 26, 2013. The investigation officer sought time for the submission of the final charge sheet on the grounds that the reports of DNA test of male suspects sent to Islamabad to ascertain the alleged rapists had still not arrived. According to the police, a couple, Bilal and his wife, Reema, along with two other suspects, Waqar and Shahid, had orchestrated the schoolgirl’s kidnapping for ransom but subsequently killed her after a case was reported as they feared the girl would disclose their identity to the police. Initially, an FIR, No.212/13, was registered under sections 365-B (kidnapping or inducing woman to compel for marriage, etc.) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) at the Azizabad police station. The sections were, however, replaced with Sections 365-A (kidnapping for extorting property, etc.) and 302 (premeditated murder) of the PPC read with section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The ATC-II granted time and adjourned the case till February 10. Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2014.