Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Tasadduq Jillani has taken notice of a sexual harassment complaint against some officials in the legal department of Federal Investigation Agency’s Multan zone and sought a report from the FIA and police by May 19 (today).
A 46-year-old woman from Mohajir Colony in Liaquatpur, Rahim Yar Khan, submitted a complaint against FIA Multan zone Legal Assistant Director Mumtaz Dogar to the Human Rights Cell of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on April 28. The chief justice took notice of the complaint and sought reports from the Punjab inspector general of police (IGP) and the FIA Punjab director.
The IGP ordered the Rahim Yar Khan district police officer to register the woman’s complaint against the FIA official. Liaquatpur police have recorded the complainant’s version.
Investigation Officer Sub Inspector Wazeer Ahmed told The Express Tribune that the police did not have jurisdiction in the matter. The FIA had initiated an inquiry into the matter and it was their responsibility to investigate. He said that the complainant had accused Dogar of sexual harassment.
“I have forwarded all evidence on the matter to FIA officials in Multan and Lahore… the inquiry has been going on for 10 months but apparently no decision has been taken yet,” he said.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, the woman said her family had been receiving death threats ever since the chief justice took notice of her complaint.
She said she had tried to kill herself thrice over the past 10 months. She tried to set herself and her children on fire in front of the Rahim Yar Khan district bar council on April 28. The lawyers present at the bar stopped her and told her to file a complaint with the Human Rights Cell of the Supreme Court.
She said she had submitted several applications to the FIA director general and other senior officials complaining about Dogar and some of his colleagues seeking sexual favours.
She said that she had a case pending with the FIA office in Multan since three years. She said Dogar and some of his officials had tried to force her into providing them sexual favours to solve the case. She said she had incriminating text messages and recorded telephone conversations with an official close to Dogar. But the FIA had still not taken any action against Dogar, she said. An FIA official on condition of anonymity told The Express Tribune that Dogar had been accused of a similar charge when he was posted at the FIA office in Bahawalpur in 2002.
When contacted, Dogar told The Express Tribune that an inquiry into the allegations was on going with the FIA and it would decide whether he was guilty or not. When asked about a similar charge against him in FIA’s Bahawalpur office, he refused comment.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2014.