http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051209/ap_on_re_as/south_asia_quake_rape_2
LAHORE, Pakistan - A doctor in charge of a hospital ward for victims of the South Asian earthquake has been arrested on suspicion of raping an 18-year-old survivor, police said. The woman alleged that Dr. Maqsood Ahmed, 43, sexually assaulted her when he treated her for leg injuries at Lahore’s Mayo Hospital last Saturday.
Ahmed, who was in police custody, denied the allegation.
“If the girl herself says that I raped her and it is proved medically, I will be guilty,” he told reporters Wednesday at a police station where he was being held.
He denied he had sex with the woman. He claimed that she was “inclined toward” him and that she had asked him to marry her.
Lahore Police Chief Amir Zulfikar said that police learned of the alleged rape through an anonymous call from another quake victim on Tuesday.
The doctor was arrested the next day.
Hospital authorities said Ahmed had been suspended and a five-member board of inquiry had been established to examine the case.
The head of the state-run hospital also was suspended until the inquiry is completed, the government of Punjab province said in a statement.
Women rallied in the city of Karachi in reaction to the rape allegation, wearing black head covers and veils and holding burning candles.
In a written statement to police, the alleged victim said that the rape occurred after Ahmed asked her to bring her X-ray and other reports to his room. When she arrived, she said, he locked the door, threatened and assaulted her.
“I resisted a lot, but he threatened to kill me,” she said in the statement, a copy of which was shown to The Associated Press.
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Then:
Muzaffarabad, Dec 9: Local police stopped dozens of slogan mongering demonstrators in the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir from marching on a bustling road as they took out a rally on Friday to condemn the alleged rape of a Kashmiri earthquake survivor in Pakistani city of Lahore.Dr Maqsood Hussain, a surgeon in Lahore’s Mayo Hospital, is being accused of raping the 20-year-old quake victim from Muzaffarabad in his office on the night of December 4. According to the victim’s statement, submitted to Lahore police, the doctor assaulted her after locking her into his office.
Dr Hussain, 43, who courted arrest on Wednesday morning, denies the charge, but admits that he had an intimacy with the girl. He was remanded in police custody for two days on Thursday.“Dr Maqsood must be stoned unto death,” read one of the several placards, held by the demonstrators numbering between 250 and 300. “The dwellings of earthquake survivors should be shifted from Pakistani cities to the territory of Kashmir,” read another placard.
The demonstration was held on a bustling roundabout just outside a big soccer field now home to around two thousands survivors of the two month old devastating earthquake.“We are the people of integrity. The quake has deprived us of our worldly belongings, but not of our sense of honour,” said Khawaja Saifuddin.Saifuddin warned “if the culprit was not handed down exemplary punishment responsibility of law and order situation (in PaK) would rest upon the Pakistani authorities.”
“Nobody should underestimate us. Inaction on part of the authorities will leave us with no option but to launch an agitation movement from one end of Kashmir to the other,” he declared.
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?ItemID=12981&cat=8
Later on:
Police: Quake rape count withdrawn
Saturday, December 10, 2005; Posted: 9:07 p.m. EST (02:07 GMT)
Police arrest doctor in rape investigation
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) – An 18-year-old earthquake survivor who accused a hospital doctor of raping her withdrew the allegation on Saturday, police said.
The doctor, head of a ward at Lahore’s Mayo hospital for survivors of Pakistan’s devastating October 8 quake, was arrested Wednesday after the woman complained to police that he allegedly assaulted her in a hospital X-ray room.
On Saturday, a week after the alleged rape, the woman retracted her statement, said Chaudhry Shafqaat Ahmed, a top Lahore police investigator.
“She has denied that she was raped,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed said the woman claimed that she was forced to sign a statement accusing the doctor of rape. Ahmed did not say who forced the woman to sign, but said she would provide other details in court.
The woman is expected to record her statement in court on Monday.
The doctor, who has said he is innocent, was still in police custody.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/12/10/pakistan.doctor.rape.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest
