Custody without protection

The reported gang rape of a minor girl in Jacobabad by policemen in custody is a failure of procedure that demands serious institutional reckoning. Furthermore, the subsequent arrest of six policemen is being presented as proof that the system works. It is not. Accountability that begins and ends with junior officers is not true justice.

Female detainees — including minors — were allegedly kept in a private location with male police officers. This alone constitutes illegal detention. The question of sexual assault, horrific as it is, comes after the state had already abdicated its legal duty. Custody is meant to restrain police power, not expand it. Equally alarming is the alleged use of detention as leverage. Holding women and children to pressure male relatives in a separate criminal case is a form of coercion that has no place in any lawful system. Such practices persist not because they are legal, but because they rarely attract consequences. In many parts of the country, approaching the police for justice — especially in cases involving police officers themselves — is an act of extraordinary risk. Without independent complaint mechanisms and witness protection, legal remedies remain largely theoretical. The absence of lady police and functional women's protection cells is also administrative negligence. These safeguards exist precisely to prevent custodial abuse, but they are not being implemented.

This case should force a shift in focus from individual guilt to institutional responsibility. Who authorised the detention? Who supervised it? Who failed to intervene? And who is now deciding how far accountability will go? Pakistan's police reform debate often revolves around resources and training. But no amount of funding can compensate for a lack of consequences. What is needed is mandatory custodial audits and zero tolerance for procedural violations — especially where women and minors are involved.