Woman accuses doctor, medical rep of sexual assault

Colleagues say allegations against doctor fabricated to blackmail him, police awaiting medical report.

RAHIM YAR KHAN: A woman accused a doctor and a medical rep of sexually assaulting her on Monday night. Saira*, a Jeddah Town resident, registered a police case against Dr Anees-ur-Rehman Koreja, an ENT specialist at the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan, at the A-division police station. The case was registered under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code (that includes rape and abduction charges).

The police have sent Saira’s medical samples to a laboratory in Lahore for confirmation of the charges. District Police Officer Babar Sarfaraz said that they have registered the case but will only arrest the doctor after Saira’s medical report confirmed that she had been assaulted.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Saira alleged that Rehman and his medical rep Shahid had assaulted her on Monday night. She said that she had gone to Rehman’s clinic with a throat ailment. She said that after examining her, Rehman, also a Jeddah Colony resident, offered her a ride back home. She said that she was short on cash so she accepted the offer. On their way back, she said, Rehman turned the car towards Gulshan-e-Iqbal. “When I protested, his friend grabbed me and threatened me to stay quiet,” she said, adding, that the two men took her to a house, the police later found out that it was owned by Shahid, where both of them raped her. She said that later they took her out, locked the house and threw her by the roadside.

Several doctors of the Shaikh Zayed Hospital including Mr Omar Jamil rejected the allegations. He said that Dr Rehman was operating on a patient at the Shaikh Zayed Hospital on Monday night. He said that the woman registered the case to blackmail Dr Rehman. He said that Dr Rehman had filed a case under pre-emption charges on one of Saira’s relative who had sold a plot next to Rehman’s house in Jeddah Town to an outsider without first consulting him. Dr Jamil said that the allegations were merely an attempt to press the doctor to withdraw the case.

Saira said that if Rehman’s colleagues could give their words on the Quran she would withdraw the case. She said that while Rehman and his friend were forcefully undressing her, some of her bangles broke and could be found if the police raid the place. She added that she also left her socks over there. The police, however, have not yet got the house unlocked. Rehman’s colleagues have warned that they would go on a strike if the police arrested him.

*The name of the women has been changed to protect her identity

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2010.