Abuse of power: Teenaged school girl accuses a police official of rape

The teenage girl was bunking school with her friends when the cop picked her up.

ISLAMABAD: An official of the city’s emergency respone team, who is suppose to provide real time help to people in need, has been accused of raping a teenaged girl. The sub-inspector of the Rescue 15 police has been accused of assaulting a 15-year-old schoolgirl after harassing and blackmailing her, a charge the official denied.

The Shalimar police arrested SI Noman Ahmed* after registering a case on Friday on the complaint of the girl.

The police said the official was sent to jail on judicial remand by a court after he was produced before a judge, adding that doctors have taken samples from the alleged rape victim and the policeman for DNA testing.

A police official requesting not to be named said the test results, which will be available in four to five days, would confirm the veracity of the allegation levelled by the girl. The official did not place much faith in the accused the SI’s claims of innocence.

Narrating the girl’s version of events, the police official said that the Rescue 15 SI intercepted three schoolboys and the girl, as they were exiting Fatima Jinnah Park, popularly known as F-9 park. The SI intercepted the four students who had bunked school and came to a restaurant in the park. They admitted being truant and pleaded to be let go.

The police official sent the three boys back to school but took the girl to a flat in F-10 Markaz, where he allegedly raped her.

Later, he threatened to report her running off from school with the boys and claimed he would register a police case against her if she told anyone about the rape. The SI then had a cabbie take her home. The girl told

her family about the incident as she could not hide her physical condition from them. The alleged rape occurred on January 23, while the Shalimar police registered the case on February 10 and only after the issue came to the attention of senior police officials through private complaints.

On the insistence of the police high ups, the girl was located and a case was registered in the Shalimar Police Station against the SI. A senior police official said the cop was already in jail and would be prosecuted if DNA tests confirmed the crime.

During initial investigations, the SI admitted that he had taken the girl to the flat but denied that he had raped her.

*Name changed to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2012.