Rawalpindi widow claims police illegally barged into house

Claims officer beat up her son when he asked to be shown a warrant for the search

RAWALPINDI: An old widow has claimed that over two dozen police officers allegedly barged into her home, harassed her and her family and beat up her son for no apparent reason.

The 69-year-old Masoor Jan, a resident of Dhoke Kashmirian in Aliabad area of Rawalpindi in her application has claimed that she was ill. Last week, on December 21, her son, Wajid Ghaffar — who runs a pick-and-drop service, had taken her to the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) in Rawalpindi for treatment.

“I visited the HFH due to severe illness but due to the unavailability of a bed, my son brought me back home at around 8pm at night,” she said.



They were sleeping when at around 1:30 am on December 22, they heard someone break their front door.

Alarmed, they got up to see what had happened when 20 to 25 policemen, some in uniforms and others in plain clothes allegedly stormed through the broken door. They immediately started searching different rooms and storage spaces in the house.

“When my son asked about the reason for the raid, why no lady police were accompanying them as is required under the law and demanded to see a warrant, the ASP and SHO started to hurl abuses at him while two officers started hitting him.

“When my daughter-in-law and I asked them to stop hitting my son, they [police officers] also allegedly misbehaved with us.”

The police officials continued their search, turning over cupboards, wardrobes and safe and then left without any action.

“The police entered my home without any warrant or letter and assaulted my son. They infiltrated our privacy and mistreated me, my son and daughter in law. The neighbours are witnesses to the whole incident. I demand protection from the police officials and legal action against those involved,” she demanded in her application. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2018.