Harassment plea: Police accused of biased investigation

Widow says she was detained, threatened with death on refusal to marry sister-in-law’s son.

LAHORE:

A widow allegedly detained and beaten up on her refusal to marry her sister-in-law’s son has accused Muzaffargarh’s Civil Lines police of favouring the suspect in an investigation report submitted to the sessions court on May 3.

Salima Bibi* alleged that the police had deliberately excluded harassment and assault charges against Babar Naeem, son of one of her two sisters-in-law, and his three accomplices Shakir, Noora and Shamshad. This, she alleged, was done on receiving a bribe from the suspects. She said the FIR registered on March 25 only mentioned illegal detention.

Muzaffargarh Civil Lines Investigation Officer Sub Inspector Abdul Shakoor rejected that the police had favoured the suspects in its report.

He said the investigation could not be completed because the suspects had obtained pre-arrest bails from the court on the day of registration of the FIR. These bails, he said, were later confirmed by the court. The SI said sections mentioned in the FIR were suggested by the Legal Branch.

In the FIR registered on March 25, Salima Bibi had accused the four men of beating her up and detaining her on April 25 at their home in Bhagheywala, Muzaffargarh, for two days.

She said she was later held at Civil Lines police station for a day after she fled her in-laws detention on February 27. She was released on directives of a judicial magistrate. She said she left Muzaffargarh for Sargodha to stay with another sister-in-law, Kafia Ahmed, on February 28. She has since been living at her home.

Salima Bibi said her husband had died in a road accident near Sher Shah Bypass on October 22, 2011. She said her in-laws had refused to prosecute the truck driver responsible for the accident.

She said she was receiving threats from her in-laws against moving ahead with prosecution.

* Name have been changed to protect victim’s identity

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2012.