Police performance: How not to conduct an inquiry
Police accused of publicly assaulting women.
GUJRANWALA:
On Thursday evening, several police officials broke into the houses of two suspects and tortured the women of the house to elicit the men’s location.
On March 27, Amir Shehzad and Akbar Shehzad married their cousins Shumaila and Nadia in a joint ceremony. On March 31, the couples had a quarrel over family distribution of property and the two men went to their in-law’s residence.
The men, reportedly, broke windows, transformers and beat up their father-in-law. “I filed a complaint against them,” said Muhammad Qaiser.
“They had beaten up my daughters and abused my wife,” he said.
The police were searching for the accused Amir and Akbar and received reports that the brothers were staying with their sister in Esa Nagri. “We began a search operation and only questioned the family. They have accused us wrongly,” said Cantt Police inspector Muhammad Suleman.
Several residents of Esa Nagri said that police officials broke into their neighbours’ house and beat up two women. “They were trying to find out the whereabouts of the accused. They dragged the women out by their hair and beat them up in the street,” said resident, Zainab.
Esa Nagri resident Zarina Bibi said that her brothers Amir Shehzad and Akbar had filed a case against their wives after they had quarreled.
“Their wives had stolen property papers,” Zarina said, adding “they later accused my brothers of hitting them and others of their family. I don’t know where they are.” Zarina said that she and her mother had told the police that they didn’t know anything about the whereabouts of the accused but the police had beaten them and tore their clothes.
“They humiliated us and we had to shout and scream for help,” said Safia Begum, Zarina’s mother.
Some police officials however insisted the women had torn their own clothes and faked the assault. “We didn’t beat anyone.
They are just making it up,” said police constable Basheer Sumra. However, one Cantt police official allegedly told a resident of the village that he had only ‘beaten the women to ascertain the location of the accused’. “The policeman later recanted and ‘improved’ his account,” the Esa Nagri resident said.
Cantt Police officials Bashir, Muhammad Aslam and others said that the incident had been blown out of proportion and that the family of the accused had brought false accusations.
“The women quarreled with the police and threw things at us. All we did was stop them from attacking us,” Aslam said. “We were merely conducting an investigation and asking where they had hidden the suspects,” he said.
Cantt police officials said that they had launched an inquiry into the matter. Zarina and Safia Bibi have appealed to the chief minister for help and for the government to take appropriate action against the police officials involved in the incident.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 02nd, 2011.
On Thursday evening, several police officials broke into the houses of two suspects and tortured the women of the house to elicit the men’s location.
On March 27, Amir Shehzad and Akbar Shehzad married their cousins Shumaila and Nadia in a joint ceremony. On March 31, the couples had a quarrel over family distribution of property and the two men went to their in-law’s residence.
The men, reportedly, broke windows, transformers and beat up their father-in-law. “I filed a complaint against them,” said Muhammad Qaiser.
“They had beaten up my daughters and abused my wife,” he said.
The police were searching for the accused Amir and Akbar and received reports that the brothers were staying with their sister in Esa Nagri. “We began a search operation and only questioned the family. They have accused us wrongly,” said Cantt Police inspector Muhammad Suleman.
Several residents of Esa Nagri said that police officials broke into their neighbours’ house and beat up two women. “They were trying to find out the whereabouts of the accused. They dragged the women out by their hair and beat them up in the street,” said resident, Zainab.
Esa Nagri resident Zarina Bibi said that her brothers Amir Shehzad and Akbar had filed a case against their wives after they had quarreled.
“Their wives had stolen property papers,” Zarina said, adding “they later accused my brothers of hitting them and others of their family. I don’t know where they are.” Zarina said that she and her mother had told the police that they didn’t know anything about the whereabouts of the accused but the police had beaten them and tore their clothes.
“They humiliated us and we had to shout and scream for help,” said Safia Begum, Zarina’s mother.
Some police officials however insisted the women had torn their own clothes and faked the assault. “We didn’t beat anyone.
They are just making it up,” said police constable Basheer Sumra. However, one Cantt police official allegedly told a resident of the village that he had only ‘beaten the women to ascertain the location of the accused’. “The policeman later recanted and ‘improved’ his account,” the Esa Nagri resident said.
Cantt Police officials Bashir, Muhammad Aslam and others said that the incident had been blown out of proportion and that the family of the accused had brought false accusations.
“The women quarreled with the police and threw things at us. All we did was stop them from attacking us,” Aslam said. “We were merely conducting an investigation and asking where they had hidden the suspects,” he said.
Cantt police officials said that they had launched an inquiry into the matter. Zarina and Safia Bibi have appealed to the chief minister for help and for the government to take appropriate action against the police officials involved in the incident.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 02nd, 2011.