Policy slippage: Insisting that government departments, agencies do their duty

Status of Women Commission cannot do much if complaints are withdrawn

LAHORE:

On complaints received at its telephone helpline (1043), the Punjab Commission on Status of Women considers its job as that of reminding the line departments concerned about their duties regarding the lawful status of women. It considers the job done once the departments concerned take up the matter (at the commission’s behest) and deal with it as per their own discretion.

Where a complaint is filed by a third party, the commission does not find it necessary to verify with the aggrieved party if the resolution of the matter has been to their satisfaction.

In a complaint received in November 2015, the commission got an FIR registered with Kot Sabzal police in Rahim Yar Khan in a three-to-four-year-old incident where a woman was sold in marriage on directives of some tribal elders. However, the FIR was later quashed on the request of the complainant, a male cousin of the woman who had earlier reported the matter to the commission.

In its report to the commission, the Rahim Yar Khan DPO said there were political differences between the complainant and some of the men identified in the FIR – who had already lodged kidnapping cases against some of the complainant’s relatives. He said the two parties had agreed to withdraw their complainants. Later, Kot Sabzal SHO confirmed to The Express Tribune that FIR registered on complaints received from both sides had been quashed. This was corroborated by the complainant who said both sides had been supporting rival candidates in the local government elections. He also admitted to taking money from the suspects in return for withdrawing the complaint.



Asked why he hadn’t approached the police when the marriage took place, he said the suspects were influential people so he stayed quiet for his own safety. He reported the matter after they implicated some of his relatives in false kidnapping cases, he said.

The commission had yet to confirm it with the woman if she was satisfied with the arrangement. Sonia Qadir, in charge of the helpline, told The Tribune that they had just verified the police report with her mother who expressed her satisfaction with it.

The original complaint received at the helpline had stated that the woman’s mother had also been sold in marriage 10 years ago to a man from Kalhora tribe in a district of Sindh. However, she had managed to escape and return to her family in Kot Sabzal.

However, in other instances, the commission’s intervention had been successful in initiating prosecution of those involved in crimes against women or settling differences between women complainants and their male relatives. A woman forced into prostitution allegedly by her in-laws some months after her marriage last year was recovered earlier this year on intervention of the Punjab Commission on the Status of the Women.

Civil Lines police in Mandi Bahauddin recovered the girl and arrested the suspects in February – over a month after the registration of a kidnapping case on directives of the police higher ups who were informed about the matter by the PCSW. In its report to the PCSW, the Civil Lines police said the suspects were being tried for kidnapping and selling the woman for prostitution (a charge added to the FIR after the woman recorded her statement following her recovery).

Speaking to The Express Tribune, her father, a kiln worker in Khanewal district, said that on losing touch with her and her in-laws, residents of Mandi Bahauddin, he had tried locating her on his own, but in vain. He said that he had later approached the Twelfth Mile police station in Khanewal but the police had refused to entertain his complaint saying that the case did not fall in their jurisdiction. He said he had given up on the matter as he was unable to afford a trip to Mandi. One of his neighbors had later reported the matter to the PCSW through the helpline.Once approached by the PCSW, Khanewal police again pointed out lack of jurisdiction. The commission then took the report to the office of the Inspector General of Police, who referred it to the Civil Lines police in Mandi Bahauddin.

In another instance, a rape suspect was arrested in Pakpattan following the PCSW’s intervention on behalf of the complainant. In its report to the Pakpattan DPO, the PCSW had complained that the police officials concerned were not arresting the suspect and were instead pressuring the complainant and her family to withdraw their FIR. The DPO assured the complainant and her family that strict action would be taken against any policeman found negligent in prosecuting the suspects or involved in harassing the complainant.

On commission’s intervention, Lahore police arranged a meeting between a woman and her brother where the latter assured that he would not harass her or any other member of her family. In her complaint, the woman had said that her brother was threatening to kill her and her father if they don’t transfer their property in his name. She had said that she reported it to the police but they did not take any action against him.

Speaking to The Tribune, PSCW chairperson Fauzia Viqar said that the commission’s job was to ensure that complaints submitted to it were taken care of by line departments concerned. She said the commission followed up with the departments to ensure that grievances were addressed in accordance with the law. However, she said, it could not do anything if the complainants withdrew their complaints.

Helpline in charge Sonia Qadir told The Tribune that the commission had received 228 complaints since the launch of the toll-free helpline in August 2014. Of these, she said 75 were about crimes against women. Other complaints were related to property or family disputes, she said.

The helpline website states that callers can seek legal advice on problems like sexual harassment, property dispute and domestic violence. It is operational from Monday to Saturday between 8am and 4pm.

Qadir said action was taken in cases of violence, discrimination or violation of basic rights. She said the commission pursued the complaints till action was taken on them by the departments concerned.

Qadir said that lack of women officers was one reason why some women felt uncomfortable approaching the police with their complaints. Besides, she said men accused of gender-based crimes frequently were able to avoid prosecution because of their privileged positions in household and the society.

Operations DIG Dr Haider Ashraf said that all complainants were equal before the law regardless of their gender. He dismissed the impression that there was any gender-based discrimination against female complainants. On the low number of women in the department, he said the gender ratio in the police department was similar to that in most other government departments.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2016.