Jail official removed over sexual assault charge

PESHAWAR: A jail superintendent was removed on Monday and an inquiry ordered against him after a female prisoner in Battagram sub-jail accused him of sexually assaulting her in custody.

A female prisoner alleged that Shehryar, superintendent of the sub-jail in Battagram, Hazara, sexually assaulted her in the jail where she was interned for some time.She narrated her ordeal to her parents when they came to meet her after which the family lodged a case with the local police.

The Home and Tribal Affairs Department suspended the jail superintendent and made him an officer on special duty.“We are inquiring into the matter and recording the statements of the complainant and the official along with other witnesses,” an official told The News.

He added that the official had denied the charge but things would get clear when the medical report of the female prisoner would be received from the forensic sciences laboratory.The Home Department constituted a two-member committee comprising Deputy Inspector General of Prisons Hazara, Umair Khan, and Superintendent of Mansehra Prison, Nagina Mehsud, to probe the issue within two days.

Allegations leveled from time to time by the male and female prisoners in different jails of the province against the officials However, this time the sexual assault has triggered alarm because of being serious.Hundreds of women are languishing in different crowded jails of the province after being convicted by the courts for various crimes or sent on judicial remand.

In most of the prisons, there are standard operating procedures for female prisoners. One of them says another woman (official or inmate) will accompany a woman prisoner if she is called by any male officer to his office in case of any issue.