No abstract

This article describes the application of the concept of geographic profiling in hunting a serial child rapist in Kasur, Pakistan. It also discusses, how DNA became the prime witness against the serial rapist in the court of law. In January 2018, the blind rape and murder case of Zainab Amin hit the headlines. Following autopsy and the subsequent forensic examination, the only piece of evidence, the agencies had, was the DNA profile of the perpetrator and the information that the source of DNA profile is a serial child rapist, involved in at least seven more cases. The analysis of all crime sites and the distance between them strongly suggested that the offender most likely was a local resident. Mass DNA screening in the target region was conducted by CSI teams of Punjab forensic science agency. The DNA matched with suspect number 814 who later confessed all his crimes. In Polygraph examination, the offender revealed his modus operandi which was in line with the hypotheses made during the geographic profiling of the crime scenes. Thus, geographic profiling proved to be a very useful investigative tool in predicting the probable location of the criminal involved in a series of crimes.

A first information report was registered at Police Station of Faisalabad District, Pakistan. A boy (7-8 years old) went to a nearby shop and went missing. He was last seen with the accused suspect on a motorcycle as reported by eye witnesses. His naked dead body was found from nearby sugarcane fields tied with his clothing.  Autopsy revealed three incised wounds on the neck. The post-mortem was done and anal swabs were used for DNA profiling. Post mortem medico legal examination indicated sexual abuse of the boy prior to being murdered. Forensic DNA analysis confirmed that the seminal material found on anal swabs of the victim belonged to the suspect. The same DNA profile was also found from the samples of nail scratch swab samples of the victim. The suspect was confirmed to be the perpetrator.