Student's abduction sparks public outcry

Relatives accuse local police of backing influential rapist, accomplices

HARIPUR:

A gang of criminals allegedly abducted a grade 9 student and subjected him to sexual assault. The heirs alleged the suspects have police backing.

The local police have allegedly started supporting the accused involved in sexual assault as the accused involved in the abduction and rape are close relatives of policemen.

According to police sources, youngster Luqman Shah was abducted at gunpoint by a person named Taseem Ali and taken to the outhouse of Gastasab alias Osama Kohistani located in Mankroy Road Mohalla Rashidabad. Gastasab sexually assaulted Luqman.

The City police registered a case against three suspects, but later the Investigation Officer (IO) and the Moharrar deliberately provided relief to the accused.

Despite three persons named in the FIR, only Gastasab has been charged under section 376 of the PPC and CPA 53. The other two accused, Mustaqim Ali and Khamish, who abducted the victim and brought him back after the rape, were not included in the FIR.

Sources alleged that the police had provided relief to the accused by doing this in several cases as the group has been involved in such heinous activities for a long time. A month ago, the same suspects tried to abduct a student of Mohalla Session House, whose CCTV footage was also available.

This group includes many criminals residing in the Kohistan district, who are involved in unrest, street crime, theft, robbery and immoral activities in the Haripur district. The gang kidnaps innocent school and college students by threatening them. Their motorcycles or vehicles bear police number plates.

Waqar Malik, the maternal uncle of the affected student, alleged that Gustasab's uncle is posted as the Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) at the City police station, while Mustaqim's relative, Abdul Rehman is also posted at the same police station. These two policemen are supporting the accused and obstructing their arrest, he further alleged.

According to Malik, the Haripur District Police Officer (DPO) is also kept in the dark about such abuse cases by the police station officials to protect their relatives.

Meanwhile, the people of the area have demanded that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IG, the Hazara division DIG and the Haripur DPO should immediately take notice of this matter.

They further demanded strict legal action against the accused Gustasib's uncle and policeman Abdul Rehman, their arrest and justice to the victim.

Police sources reveal that police officers posted in the City police station for years have created their own law, set up alleged private torture cells and charged citizens in bogus cases with intimidation. With their help, their relatives have affixed illegal police number plates on their cars and motorcycles, threatening citizens.

Expressing their severe concerns, local citizens alleged that the PTI has politicised a rape incident in a Lahore's private college but is silent on such incidents in their own province (Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa). Two days ago, a school girl was raped in Swabi district, for which a formal FIR was registered, they add.

Why is the PTI silent on such incidents in Haripur and Swabi when the PTI MNA from Haripur, Umar Ayub Khan and three MPAs are included in the provincial cabinet?