An additional district and sessions judge on Wednesday sought comments from SHOs concerned on two petitions. The petitioners are seeking registration of cases against police officials for raping a woman and illegally detaining a man after they refused to bribe them.
One of the petitioners said that on April 26 the Ichhra Sub Inspector (CIA) Muhammad Liaquat had arrested her brother with three other men.
The officer demanded Rs500,000 to release them, she says, but the family was only able to pay Rs200,000 and so the police let one of the men go.
She told the court that being poor she could not pay the official and told him so. He, she alleges, told her to come to the police station at night to discuss the case. According to the petitioner, once at the police station, the SI took her to a room and raped her. She said he had then said that her brother would be released the next day. When she went there the next day, she claims, she was raped again. Thus went on for 10 days, according to the petitioner, but her brother was not released.
She said she had asked the SHO concerned to take notice of the matter but he had ignored her. She prayed the court to direct the SHO to register a case against the SI for raping her and demanding a bribe for the release of her brother.
The judge sought comments from the SHO concerned by May 30.
In the other case, petitioner Muhammad Arshad submitted that on April 9 he was asked to pull over at a Kahna police picket when he was on his way to work.
The officials asked him about the registration and tax documents of the motorbike which he produced. They then asked him where he was going at 9 pm.
He said he told them that he was on his way to the factory he worked at. The officials then searched him and took Rs5,000 and his mobile phone and told him to be on his way. When he asked them to return his money, he claims, they beat him up and took him to the police station. “The police officials told me that I was an absconder and wanted in a number of cases,” Arshad told the judge.
The petitioner said that he ran into an acquaintance at the police station and asked him to notify his family after which his brother visited the police station. The officials released him at 4 am after his brother paid Sub Inspector Sarwar and Constables Sajid, Ali and Mohsin Rs3,000. They also kept his phone and the cash they had taken from him earlier.
Arshad said he had asked the SHO concerned to take action against the police officials but he had not done anything. The judge sought comments from the SHO by June 1.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2013.