The rape victim in Muzaffarabad, who was four months pregnant, had her unborn child die after she consumed poison following physical abuse by an influential person, said a doctor and the victim’s lawyer on Friday.

On Thursday evening, the victim was again hospitalised in SKZN Hospital, where a gynaecologist performed her ‘Dilatation and Curettage’ because “the mouse poison she had ingested had caused intrauterine death.”

Asif Shahzad Abbasi, a lawyer representing the victim family free of cost, said they had met tragedies in succession, and needed extraordinary measures on the part of the state and government to restore their trust in justice system.

“The government must ensure exemplary punishment to the accused and his co-accused so as to set an example for their likes,” he said.

Abbasi said even though the victim was “terrorised, abducted and raped,” the police had implicated the accused only under Section 10 (3) Zina Act.

He said on his request, DIG Police Sardar Gulfraz had verbally ordered Chikar police on Friday to add Section 11 of Zina Act which deals with kidnapping for rape.

The DIG also ordered the police to immediately arrest the co-accused, but as yet there is no progress, Abbasi said.

“Even the main accused is being treated as a guest and not as a criminal,” he alleged.

S* was reportedly subjected to the crime by a man named Raja on the outskirts of Chikar, a famous hill resort in the constituency of AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider last Friday.

The provisional medical report confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted.

The victim was on her way home from a nearby village, where she had gone to see her sister, when the alleged accused, accompanied by two other persons, forced her to sit in his jeep.

After the co-conspirators got out of the jeep, the primary accused took the victim to a deserted shelter in the jungle and subjected her to sexual assault.

Later, the suspect dropped the victim near her home and threatened her with a terrible outcome if she approached the police.

The victim initially refrained from sharing the harrowing incident with her husband, H*, until the next morning. However, after being informed of the incident he advised her to forget about it, since they could do nothing to the tormentor due to his financial strength and tribal clout.

S* subsequently ingested poison in a bid to commit suicide and was eventually brought to Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan (SKZN) Hospital in Muzaffarabad for further treatment.

The Chikar police station received information about the incident from hospital staffers on Monday, following which an assistant sub-inspector reached medical facility and recorded her statement regarding her ravishment.

Following her statement, the police registered an FIR and have since apprehended the main accused Raja.

On Wednesday, the suspect was produced before a judicial magistrate in Hattian Bala, and was remanded to police custody for one week for further investigation.

The main accused in the case, Raja Nayyar Naeem, belongs to the clan of AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider.

However, Raja Wasim, spokesman for the AJK premier, said in a brief statement that the accused “would be brought to justice.”