Cover up?: Court orders registration of case against seven policemen

Petitioner claims they tried to kill her daughter; police say she was wanted in two cases.

RAWALPINDI:

An Additional District and Sessions Court (ADSC) directed the city police officer (CPO) on Monday to register a criminal case against seven policemen for trying to kill a woman during a raid on her house. 

Additional District and Sessions judge Chaudhry Muhammad Nazir directed the CPO to register criminal case against sub-inspectors (SI) Mazhar Shah and Makhdoom Shah, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Raja Liaqat, and four other policemen of the Waris Khan Police Station.

The court further directed the CPO to depute a superintendent of police (SP) to investigate the case and submit a report to the court within two weeks, said Advocate Khurram Masood Kiani, who was representing the petitioner, Rukhsana Bibi*.

In her petition, Rukhsana alleged that on January 25, the policemen entered her house in Dhoke Farman Ali and tried to rape her daughter, Samina*. When the girl resisted, the two sub-inspectors slit her throat, said the lawyer.

The petitioner said that her daughter got 28 stitches on her neck and is currently admitted in Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH).

She said she approached the area police to register a case against the police officials, but they refused. She had no remedy other than approaching the court.

The Waris Khan police, however, maintained that Samina was wanted in two cases and FIRs had been registered against her with the Waris Khan Police Station.

The police claimed that she is accused of bootlegging, as a huge quantity of liquor was seized from her and her sister before they escaped arrest.

The police filed second FIR against her for attempted suicide. According to police, they got information that a woman with throat injuries was admitted to BBH and after getting the medical report, the police registered the case.

*Names have been changed to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2012.