Cops ignore testimony of blind rape victim

Marufa said police didn’t register the case as they couldn’t ‘trust’ her account.

GUJRANWALA:

Gujranwala Police officials arrested three accused involved in raping a blind woman, after she approached the media for help.

According to reporters, Cantt Police station area Mohalla Salimpura resident Marufa Hayat* told reporters that she had been gang raped by her neighbours Adeel Haroon, Qadir and an unknown man. Marufa also said that she reported the incident to the police, who initially refused to file the case. “They said that my testimony wasn’t reliable because I had not seen the men,” she said. Marufa said that she was a widow and that her husband had had a quarrel with the accused.

“After my husband died I received several death threats and the men constantly threatened to attack me,” she said, adding that they had taunted her. “They told me that the police would not believe me and that is why I think they had paid them off. They are rich men and have a lot of influence in Salimpura,” she said.

The police did not take any action on the case for five days and Marufa said that she was pressurised to take the case back. “The police came to my house and told me that I should take the case back,” she said. Marufa said that following the incident she had begun receiving threats on the phone. “I would keep getting calls and the person on the other end would say that I would be killed because I had gone to the police and reported the incident,” she said. Marufa then approached the media and told them the entire story.

A team of reporters approached the Cantt Police station District Superintendent Police (DSP) Taufeeq Khan, saying that they would air the news and police’s involvement in a cover up. “The police only agreed to file the case after they knew the media was involved,” Marufa’s neighbour and caretaker Sana said.

“We did write down her report initially but we could not take it as fact because her testimony isn’t reliable,” said Khan, adding that he had asked police officials to look into the matter. “They told me that my testimony was unreliable because I was blind.  I am not deaf. I can recognise the voices of my attackers, especially since they had been threatening me for a long time,” Marufa said.

Police officials have now taken the accused in custody and are conducting a thorough investigation.



* All names have been altered to protect the identity of the victim

Bound by the truth

Under section 154 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), an in charge of any police station is bound to register an FIR in cognisable offences on the application of a complainant. However, if the application is found to be based on a fabricated story, the investigation office can quash the FIR after investigating the matter.

There was no separate provision in the law for witness of the disabled, including blind persons. Blind people can reproduce the sounds uttered by the accused at the time of commission of the offence

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2011.