Crime and punishment: ‘SHO altered rape FIR against sub-inspector’

The complainant said that on February 6, the IO called her to the police station and asked her to pardon the man.

LAHORE:

Additional District and Sessions Judge Safdar Ali Bhatti on Monday sought comments by February 12 (today) from the Gulberg SHO on a petition seeking a case against him for changing a rape FIR registered against a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) sub-inspector.

The complainant said that on February 4, 2013, FIA Sub-inspector Ahmed Khan Merani raped her at a hotel. She said that the man was arrested on the spot and police registered a case against him under Sections 496-A and 376 (enticing or taking away or detaining with criminal intent a woman and punishment of rape).

She said that on February 5, Gulberg SHO and Investigation Officer Fida Hussain started pressing her to withdraw the case, saying that the suspect, an FIA sub-inspector from Islamabad, was very influential. She said that on February 6, the IO called her to the police station and asked her to pardon the man. He offered her a Rs500,000 ‘compensation’. She said the officer said that if she did not settle the issue with Merani, he would level charges against her in the case. She said he also introduced her to Ihsan who he said was an assistant director with the National Accountability Bureau Punjab.



She said that on February 7, Husain produced Merani before a magistrate and tempered with the FIR, erasing PPC Sections 496-A/376. He added another section in the FIR.

She prayed to the court to register a case against the police official under the Police Order 2002 for misusing his authority and destroying the evidence. She also moved an application for Sections 496-A/376 to be reinstated.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2013.