LAHORE – An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore on Monday charged a manwith raping and murdering six-year-old Zainab Amin in a case that enragedthe country and sparked riots in his home district of Kasur last month.
Imran Ali, 24, pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting and murderingZainab, said defence lawyer Mehr Shakeel Multani.
“The police have levelled baseless and false allegations against myclient,” Multani told AFP.
The hearing was held in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail for security reasons.Witnesses will be called on Tuesday.
Zainab’s rape and murder last month had sparked outrage across the countryafter the six-year-old, who went missing on January 4, was found dead in atrash heap in Kasur on Jan 9. Her case is the 12th such incident to occurwithin a 10 kilometre radius in the city over the past year.
Police had confirmed on Jan 13 that the results of DNA testing of samplescollected from the crime scenes pointed towards the involvement of oneculprit in at least seven similar cases in the district. The Punjabgovernment had declared the arrest of Imran, the prime suspect, on January23.
The killing sparked calls for the public execution of Imran after officialssaid his DNA had been recovered from the scene of the crime and matchedsamples from similar cases.
According to the victim’s father Amin Ansari, Imran — who lived nearby —had taken part in the initial protests that erupted after Zainab’s body wasdiscovered.
Last Friday, the ATC had granted police 14-day judicial remand of thesuspect after a detailed challan against him was submitted in court by theprosecution. Police had kept the suspect in physical remand for about 16days. The suspect had first been remanded to police custody for 14 daysfollowing his arrest last month. The court had subsequently granted thepolice an additional three-day remand after he was nominated in seven othersimilar cases.
The deputy prosecutor general had told the court that during theinvestigation, the suspect had confessed to his involvement in the rape andmurder of seven children in Kasur, apart from Zainab.
The ATC had decided that hearings of the trial will be conducted on a dailybasis and the case will be completed within seven days. – APP / AFP