On November 25, an FIR was lodged in Kot Addu by a woman alleging that ASI Imtiaz Surani, a police officer investigating the abduction case of her sister-in-law had raped her at gunpoint at her house. She said five people including ASI Imtiaz Surani and a constable in uniform and three personnel in plain clothes had come to her house on the pretext of having information in connection with the ongoing investigation of abduction of the survivor’s sister-in-law who had been kidnapped by unidentified assailants on October 8.

District Police Officer Hassan Iqbal ordered the arrest of the ASI and put him in police lock up after the registration of an FIR against him. The district police have dismissed the accused ASI from the job but no judicial proceedings have been held against the other four accused. The survivor retracted her statement later. The court released the suspect and two accomplices that had been held. DPO Hassan Iqbal has said that the case will not be closed until the release of the DNA test reports. He has also said that stern action will be taken against both the suspect and the complainant if the result of the lab report is positive. This is extremely concerning and raises questions on the protocols the police are following in dealing with such cases. The suspect’s family had approached the complainant’s family and pressured the woman to give a favourable written statement in court. The police say that they have recovered Rs 3.5 million and a cheque for Rs 1.5 million from the complainant which they allege the complainant received from the suspect for her favourable statement.

In a recorded interview, the complainant has narrated the incident that took place after her withdrawal from nominating prime accused ASI Imtiaz Surani. She says, “The police were brutal and trespassed our house. They broke the front door and ransacked my house. Without a single lady constable, the police searched the house, subjected everybody to a body search and beat up my brother. A police party headed by SHO Sadiq took away more than Rs 300,000 and gold ornaments then arrested me, my brother and brother-in-law. Police took us to a police station and then the private residence of the SHO where they subjected us to inhuman torture”.

Media reports suggest that incidents of violence against women have been rampant in Muzaffargarh district, especially in the past couple of months.

A policewoman and a gender crime officer posted in Muzaffargarh district was allegedly kidnapped and raped on September 5. A group of five bike riders assaulted a woman and tore off her clothes on one of the main roads in Muzaffargarh’s Dari Chandia.

Syed Irfan Hyder Shamsi points out the power differential between a serving police officer implicated in a rape case and a woman victim of rape and says that victims are often forced to compromise. He says that the conduct of the police in terms of handling this case is suspect and concerning.

To make matters even more complicated, the Kot Addu police have now registered an FIR against the complainant to counter her complaint against the ASI. Kot Addu City police have registered the FIR on the complaint of Shahid Abbas, a security duty constable posted at Kot Addu City police station. The complainant police constable has alleged that he overheard the woman and her family allegedly bargaining for withdrawal of the complaint against ASI Imtiaz Surani. He says they demanded Rs 5 million and allegedly received Rs 3.5 million in cash and a cheque for Rs 1.5 million.

Sections 213 and 214 PPC have been added to the FIR against the victim. Section 213-PPC deals with accepting money to save criminals from punishment. The section says: “Whoever accepts or attempts to obtain, or agrees to accept, any gratification for himself or any other person, or any restitution of property to himself or any other person, in consideration of his concealing an offence or of his screening any person from legal punishment for any offense, or of his not proceeding against any person for the purpose of bringing him to legal punishment. The minimum punishment may be extended to ten years”.

“If the offence is punishable with death, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine; if punishable with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment which may extend to ten years, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine; and if the offence is punishable with imprisonment not extending to ten years, shall be punished with imprisonment of the description provided for the offence for a term which may extend to one-fourth part of the longest term of imprisonment provided for the offence, or with fine, or with both.”

The provisions of Sections 213 and 214, however, do not extend to any case in which the offence may lawfully be compounded.

Commenting on the FIR registered against the victim, Syed Irfan Hyder Shamsi, a senior legal practitioner, points out the power differential between a serving police officer implicated in a rape case and a woman victim of rape and says that victims are often forced to compromise. He says that the conduct of the police in terms of handling this case is suspect and concerning. In fact, it would seem from the FIR that has been registered against the complainant that the police are resorting to strong-arm tactics and pressuring the victim for a compromise with the ASI, he adds.

Nazir Ahmed, a member of the Human Rights Commission Council says that the police routinely deny women basic protections guaranteed to them by law. Police often refuse to register rape complaints by women, particularly if the complaint implicates an officer. Officers frequently illegally detain women in police lock-ups for days at a time without formally registering a charge against them, or producing them before a magistrate within the prescribed 24-hour period. He notes that although women police officers are required to be present at the time of arrest and interrogation of women, this rarely occurs. Thus, women prisoners are often held in custody indefinitely by male police officers, without the knowledge of the courts. Most sexual abuse of female prisoners occurs during this period of invisibility, he says.

The writer is bureau chief of The News in Multan. He may be reached at trisign69@yahoo.com