Victim’s family accuse police officials of letting suspects off the hook . PHOTO: FILE
Police registered a case against Raja Ijaz Mehmood and an unidentified person for allegedly raping a 33-year-old woman on May 16.
Victim’s family told The Express Tribune that Mehmood had told the woman* that he would help her get a job at the airport, and told her to bring him a copy of her CV.
The victim, who hailed from Rawalpindi, said that she went to Mehmood’s house in I-10 on May 16 where Mehmood raped her with the help of another man.
The victim stated in her complaint to the police that the suspects tortured her, tore her clothes apart and also warned her against reporting it to the police.
The victim’s family said that Mehmood met the woman at the airport, where she worked temporarily, and where Mehmood worked and retired from some engineering department.
The suspects left the victim after around two hours.
The woman went straight to the Sabzi Mandi Police Station. The woman in her complaint has stated that she has been going through financial hardship and is a mother of three children.
The family said that two police officials went to the house and met Mehmood but did not arrest him.
The victim said that while she was at the police station pleading the officials to register a case, the prime suspect came to the police station, shook hands with the officials and left.
“He threatened the victim in front of the police officials and said that police could do nothing,” a family member* of the victim said.
The family, however, said that when the matter came to the notice of the SHO, he promptly registered an FIR himself and sent the victim to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) for a medical examination.
Inspector Mehboob Ahmed, the SHO, said he was unaware that the suspect had come to the police station after the incident.
ASI Zafar Iqbal, who the family claimed went to the crime scene and met the suspect, denied that he went to the house that day.
Questioned why the suspect was not arrested when he came to the police station, he said arrest could only be made after registration of the case.
He did not answer any further questions and hung up.
Sub-Inspector Muhammad Basheer, who is investigation officer for the case, said the police were on the lookout for the suspect, who, he said had gone into hiding.
Basheer said he had gone to the house, a couple of times, but found it locked.
*NAMES WITHHELD TO PROTECT VICTIM’S IDENTITY
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2016.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ