Policeman arrested for ‘raping’ complainant

Woman alleges officer came to her house in the absence of her husband and assaulted her

BAHAWALPUR: An officer at Bahawalpur City’s Saddar police station has been arrested on charges of raping a married woman at her house.

Initially, the complainant, a resident of Abbasia Town, had gone to the police station to get a rape case registered against her distant relative. She accused the suspect of coming to her house in the absence of her husband and sexually assaulting her.

When she along with her husband went to the police station to file a complaint, investigation Officer Ashfaq Tareen did not listen to her and instead started calling her repeatedly on her phone afterwards.

One day, the woman alleged, the police officer came to her house in the absence of her husband, locked her child in another room and forced himself upon her.

A case has been registered against Sub-Inspector Ashfaq for raping the woman and Saddar police have locked up their own officer.

Bahawalpur DPO Ashfaq Ahmad Khan has ordered an inquiry against the accused and suspended him.

However, Ashfaq told reporters that the woman had come to the police station some days ago for filing a fake rape case. When the case could not be registered, the frustrated woman filed a complaint against him, he claimed.

Policemen accused of raping women in Punjab is not uncommon. On January 9, a woman was gang-raped by six men, including three policemen in Multan.

Three constables of the Seetal Mari police station were arrested on charges of not only sexually abusing the woman but also subjecting her to inhumane torture.

In November 2016, a policeman was jailed for life after being found guilty of raping his own 20-year-old daughter for over four years.

The girl had told police that she sought help from her relatives, but no one believed her. Her school principal advised her to report her ordeal to the police, after which the court proceedings began.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2017.