Countering harassment: When custodians of the law become violators

Three policemen harassed me and my female friend.

ISLAMABAD:

I’m going to narrate an unfortunate incident that I experienced recently. Last Friday at around 10pm, I was standing with one of my female friends on Margalla Road in Sector F-6. We were munching on crisps and chatting when out of nowhere an Islamabad Police patrol vehicle stopped by.

Three policemen, two from the Elite Force and one Islamabad Police official stepped out. Before I knew it, one of them pushed me inside my car and planted himself on the passenger seat next to mine, while, the other guy pushed my female friend in the back seat and stood outside the car. He asked me to drive to the Kohsar Police Station, where he said they would lock us up. According to them, I had committed an immoral act by standing next to a girl in a dark place.

I was about to start the car when he offered to let me go if I gave him Rs20,000. I remained silent, so he snatched my wallet. I only had Rs2,000 which he pocketed exclaiming, “Tum kitnay kangaal ho!”(You are bankrupt).

The other Elite Force guy opened the car’s back door and grabbed my friend’s arm and pushed her into his vehicle. The guy sitting with me held me tight while his colleague groped my friend. He drove around with her, threatening her he would tell her parents and lock her up if she tried to escape. He asked for her cell phone number and said he would like to meet her every week from now and let her go.

After they left, my friend was traumatised and begged me to drop her home. After that I spun my car towards the Kohsar Police Station in Sector F-7 and told the policemen who said that they would investigate further. I stormed out and drove around F-6 and F-7 in an attempt to find them. I found their vehicle parked in Kohsar Market at 11pm. I drove back to Kohsar Police Station and told the other policemen. ASP Rizwan Gondal calmed me down and asked all the patrol vehicles in the area to return to the police station.

He promised me to take severe action against them. Islamabad Police official Pervaiz Tanoli, Elite Force official, Umar Khan, who abused the girl and another colleague were identified, dismissed and an inquiry was initiated. They begged me to forgive them and they called my friend and apologised to her as well.

All of this happened because I decided to stand up. There are policemen who use their uniform and target teenagers and blackmail them to satisfy their lust and fill their pockets. If this happens to you, make sure you know what to do. Immediately ask them to drive you to the nearest police station because they cannot lock you up for this. My friend is still traumatised; she cannot even share this with anyone. I don’t want another girl to go through such a horrific ordeal.

The next car they stop might be yours. We live in a country full of such beasts and I don’t blame the police, I just blame those individuals. And yes, that guy did return my Rs2,000!

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2013.