PHOTO: FILE
On the other hand, a surge in criminal cases, including the heinous ones, involving women has been observed during the last few years. A few weeks back, a woman was indicted after police investigations into the murder of her husband who had recently returned from a Gulf country.
She killed her husband with the help of her paramour. The suspected woman had tried to pretend that her husband was killed while resisting a robbery bid. A few months back, a woman was arrested for killing her children.
The incidents of crime against property are also being reported every other day. Every other day, CCTV footages emerge in which the women could be seen stealing things from shops.
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In a most recent case, a robbery case was reported in Green Town. The suspects including a woman knocked at the door of a house. After sometime when no one opened the door, a male suspect jumped inside the house and opened the door for his woman accomplice. While fleeing after committing the robbery, the suspects were intercepted by the family members. Police said they were investigating the matter.
A few senior police officers, on the condition of anonymity, said that dealing with the cases involving women suspects was a really tough task for them. The department lacked overall capacity in investigations on modern lines.
The involvement of the vulnerable section of the society like women turned it further complicated.
When it comes to investigation, the police use “coercion” to get a confession for so long to break criminals, he added. Though the scenario was changing due to technological advancements, however, it is also a fact that “old habits die hard”.
The recent uproar on social media against police means of investigations after the custodial death of a suspected ATM thief has pushed police to exercise restraint and maximum restraint in cases involving women. This has further complicated the situation.
Advocate Asad Jamal while talking to The Express Tribune said the law does not allow police to stop women suspects for an overnight stay at police stations. It asked for the presence of women police officials around them all the time including during investigations. He also stressed for allowing access to the legal counsel, a constitutional right, during the process of investigations.
Another senior investigator told The Express Tribune that these binding also made the process further complicated. He also pointed out towards another issue police faced in most of the cases ie the courts would refuse to grant physical remand of a woman accuse and sent them on judicial remand.
He said they had to resort to illegal detention to extract evidence.
No officer would dare to afford the possibility of backlash after the Salahuddin incident for overstepping of authority.
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Jamal questioned why police needed physical remand of the suspect. He suggested that police need to look beyond the investigations based on “coercion” for a “confession”. He said they stressed for physical custody for the only purpose, “abuse” for vested interests.
Lahore Police Investigations Wing Spokesperson Imran Anwar admitted that it was true that police lacked logistics, space and training in dealing with such cases. He said law asked them to keep in the women police station only. Lahore had only one woman police station. Besides, the presence of a female constable was mandatory. They had very few numbers of women police. Besides, the lawyer asked to transport the female suspect before evening. They also lacked facilities in doing so. He also conceded in wake of training.
However, he said that the times were changing. Competent well-read investigations officers were joining the force. He said that the number of female officers and officials were also increasing with the times. Besides, the department was investigating too much focus on covering other hangovers like training and logistics.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2019.
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