Women police: At two ‘new’ stations, registers are open but complainants a rarity

The women police stations finally started working in Sept after being sanctioned in 2009.

KARACHI: Two months ago, when a woman walked into a police station in Liaquatabad to file a case against her violent sister-in-law, she was not turned away unlike previous complainants.

The officers greeted and welcomed her, and even penned down her grievance, making it the first case to be registered at the new women police station.

Created exclusively in 2009 to take up women-related cases, it has taken three years for the two women police stations - one for the East and the other for West zone - to start functioning. They finally have the authority to lodge FIRs and fight crime.

The two stations had until recently been concrete structures merely, lacking powers to register cases, conduct investigations or arrest criminals. But with the allocation of new powers, the total number of women police station in the city has come to three - the oldest one amongst them is the South zone women police station on Sharae Faisal, which was inaugurated by Benazir Bhutto in 1994.

In September, at Liaquatabad’s West zone women police station, officers had excitedly lodged the first FIR but the case turned out to be of “C-class” and was dismissed by the court. C-class cases are those in which the complainant cannot come up with enough evidence to prove the case against the accused.

“We were delighted when the first case was registered,” says the in-charge at the police station, SHO Anila Qadir. “We were finally recognised and given the powers to investigate a case. However, there wasn’t much evidence to make it a stronger one.”

The police station caters to the women of the entire West zone of the city. Its first FIR lodged was under Section 337-A of the Pakistan Penal Code. The section “Shajjah” deals with injuries to the head and face. Neelofar, the complainant, had accused her sister-in-law of beating her up, and also alleged that she wanted to take over her property.

For the registration of the case, SHO Anila Qadir says the officers had to seek help from their male counterparts. “This was our first time and we sought help from the DSP to ask which sections to apply,” she said.

Taking up the matter, the case investigation officer got to work, but unfortunately there was no evidence to back the case.

Meanwhile, at the other women police station for the East zone, an FIR has yet to be lodged, according to its SHO Sajida Jamili but she claims the officers have been listening to women problems and giving them suitable advices since the station was set up.

This police station was formerly associated with the New Town police station but has now become a part of the Ferozabad police.

“Even in this age, I feel most women are reluctant to register cases as they want to avoid going to court or take legal action,” says SHO Sajida Jamili. Complaints coming to the women stations are mostly about marital disputes or domestic fights and violence.

SHO Anila Qadir feels, however, that some cases are of a serious nature and need immediate police help. She also believes that crimes against women can be lowered if the women themselves step forward to register cases. “Awareness should be spread among people that women stations are now independent and can arrest the offenders,” she claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2012.