Minor girl's rapist bail opposed

LAHORE - Four lawyers of the Lahore High Court voluntarily have submitted their power of attorneys into the court on behalf of Tayyeba, a 7-year-old orphan alleged gang raped girl, to oppose the bail of a rapist before an Additional District and Sessions Judge. The judge adjourned the hearing on bail application of accused Zubair till April 28, as Zubair's counsel could not appear before the court. Among those lawyers who voluntarily have given their power of attorneys are Anees AA Sadi, Muhammad Azhar Siddique, Muhammad Irfan Mukhtar and Muhammad Raqaz Ibrahim. Knowing that Tayyeba's mother could not afford to hire an advocate to contest the case, the lawyers offered her to defend her case before every court free of cost. It is pertinent to mention here that on March 11, four accused namely Zubair, Talha, Muzamil and Muzafar raped Tayyeba in Sidhanwali village of Ferozewala leaving her into critical condition. Former IG police Azhar Hasan Nadeem suspended DSP and SHO of Narang Mandi police station for defending the main accuse Zubair and not nominating him in the FIR. However, after the action against the DSP and SHO police arrested Zubair but declared all three other accused as innocent and released them from the police station before taking them before any court. Nusrat Bibi, Tayyeba's mother, told media persons that she was not living in her house as the accused family threatened her of dire consequences. She said even her witnesses in the FIR had misappropriated Rs 35,000 out of Rs 50,000 which Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif had given her after knowing the incident. She said her witnesses also were now pressurizing her to withdraw the case against the accused.

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