Two officials arrested for ‘robbing, sexually assaulting’ Pakistani-American family in Islamabad

Family members were illegally confined, robbed, and sexually assaulted at a police checkpoint in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested two constables involved in allegedly harassing a Pakistani-American family in the capital.

The family, visiting their home after spending 16 years abroad, were illegally confined, robbed, and sexually assaulted at a police checkpoint in Islamabad.



"Initial investigation has been completed in the respective case, and we have a full video recording of the incident as all check points in Islamabad have CCTV cameras installed," IGP Islamabad told The Express Tribune.

"It is an incident of extortion and harassment of men in the car. Both constables have been arrested, and with sufficient video evidence we will make an example out of this so that no citizen is harassed in the future," he added.

The family was travelling from Bhara Kahu to Wah on November 13 when their rented car was stopped at a police checkpoint on Kashmir Chowk.

A police official asked the driver to show documents for the car. After the driver produced the documents, the official started accusing the driver of pushing drugs and started searching the car.

The officials asked the driver and a male family member* to step out of the vehicle, while another official searched the purse of a female relative*.



Family members later told the police that the official took $800 out of the purse.

The official, whose name plate read ‘Rana Mudassir’, took the man and the driver to a nearby picket, unstrung their trousers and touched their private parts, claiming that it was part of the frisking procedure.

The two police officials then threatened family, saying they would take the driver to the police station and lodge a case against him. After this, the cops returned $700 out of the $800 they had taken from the purse and kept the difference. The family was finally allowed to leave.

The issue was only highlighted once they reached their hometown in Wah and narrated the episode to other family members, one of whom had a relative working as a journalist in Islamabad.

Later that evening, they lodged a complaint at the Secretariat Police Station against the two officials, identified as constables Mudassir and Wadood.