Inquiry finds Dr Jabbar guilty

KARACHI - The inquiry committee of Sindh Government, which was set up to probe the rape case of Magdalene Ashraf a nursing student of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) has analysed the incident and prepared a preliminary findings with some suggestions, TheNation learnt on Sunday. The report says that the statement of the victim Magda-lene Ashraf as well as the accused Dr Abdul Jabbar Mem-on together with circumstantial evidence is clearly indicative of an intention on the part of Dr Jabbar to commit some foul act. However, the conflicting nature of the statement of the accused and the victim as well as conflicting nature of two medical reports available on record (one carried out by Chemical Examiner of JPMC soon after the incident and the other by National Forensic Science Agency Project Isla-mabad) make the whole picture somewhat foggy. Therefore, the probe committee had to infer and construe on the basis of available evidence, attending circumstances and reputation of the accused and to arrive at 'a most likely scenario. According to probe committee, the victim Magdalene Ashraf in her statement said she had been enticed away to the room of Dr Jabbar by her colleague, namely Sajjad Fatima. However, Sajjad Fatima in her statement denies it and establishes an alibi for the time period during which she is alleged to have enticed Magda-lene. The accused Dr Jabbar on the other hand himself admits that he picked up Magdalene from her residence at Korangi and brought her to his room. Irrespective of the contradictions of these two statements, the fact is that Magdalenes presence in Dr Jabbars room without any official purpose points towards the ill intentions of Dr Jabbar. Dr Jabbar Mem-on in the course of interrogation disclosed that he was drinking alcohol while he drove Magdalene up to his room and after entering the room, he locked it from inside and thereafter started to make way for relationship. One can presume that he was trying to induce her to sexual intercourse, however, before he could succeed, the two had an argument. In the course of this argument, Dr Jabbar also slapped on her face and this fact is corroborated by the statements of both victim and the accused. The nature of the argument is irrelevant because what happened minutes after was an attempt by the victim to escape out of the room for which she ran towards the window and jumped out. The victim states that Dr Jabbar Memon actually pushed her out of the window saying, now you die. The statement of both the accused and the victim indicate that during the scuffle, her clothes were torn and she was almost naked. Eventually the girl was found in an unconscious state at the backyard and apparently while the people hearing the noise gathered outside the room of Dr Jabbar Memon and asked him to open the door. It seems that Dr Jabbar Memon did not have the courage to face the crowd at his door and decided to sneak out of the window with the help of sewerage and water supply pipes and Dr Jabbar also stated this before the investigation officer also. As he (Dr Jabbar) tried to climb down, the pipe gave in and he landed on the floor sustaining injuries. The probe committee head-ed by Arif Ahmed Khan, the Home Secretary and with DIG Police South and DIG Investigation as members also deliberated the medical and DNA test report, while the complete medical report is still not available. No matter what the eventual outcome of the clinical investigations is, it is established beyond doubt that the presence of a young girl in a doctors room and the doctor who does not enjoy a good reputation, the episode of the accused and the victim escaping out of the window and injuring themselves, is sufficient to establish that Dr Jabbar Memon had every intention to commit a crime of grave nature. He in fact succeeded in doing so to a great extent but the girl finally escaped from his clutch-es, which led to the drop scene of this whole event. The probe committee has recommended that further clinical investigation must be carried out to determine the exact sections of law under which this case should be proceeded. However, even without the clinical investigation the committee observes that the act committed by Dr Jabbar attracts several provisions of PPC in addition to any other disciplinary/departmental action that may be taken against him. This case should be pursued vigorously by the government, especially by the Prosecution Department, so that in future people belonging to the noble profession of medicine may not involve themselves in such unbecoming conduct. The inquiry report further said that JPMC Nursing Girls Hostel comprises more than 100 rooms and around 200 students and paramedics are residing there. About thirty to thirty five rooms are reserved for nursing students and fifty rooms for staff nurses and others paramedical staff. Presently more than 70 students of nursing are living in the hostel. Classrooms for the nursing students are situated in the ground floor of same premises. Thus they do not need to go outside for classes. It is pertinent to mention here that the nursing student and victim Ms Magdalene is not a resident of this hostel. The probe committee has also suggested to the government a number of preventive measures to avoid any such incident in future. Installation of close circuit TV cameras was recommended to monitor the activities of students and visitors in the nursing school. A boundary wall around nursing hostel and evacuation of hostels from unauthorised occupants was also recommended. Hiring of private independent security guards, in addition of posting of police was also stressed.