Three cops face ire over rape victim’s suicide

SARGODHA: Regional Police Officer Ahmad Ishaq Jahangir has suspended from service the station house officer, assistant sub-inspector and moharrar of Kirana police for showing negligence that resulted in suicide of a ‘rape victim’ and ordered their arrest besides an inquiry against them. The suspended officials are: SHO Mukhtar Ahmad, Investigation Officer ASI Sikandar Hayat and Moharrar Muhammad Waheed. The girl was allegedly subjected to rape on gunpoint by a man who later on continued relations with her for months, assuring her of marriage. When the victim got pregnant, the man refused to marry her. She approached Kirana Police Station to register a complaint but the police favoured the accused and ignored her complaint. She got dejected and committed suicide by swallowing poisonous pills. After her suicide, police entered an FIR in the record with backdate. Police also claimed the arrest of the suspect, adding the girl’s complaint was entertained as soon as she approached them and that she committed suicide due to defamation of her family. The rape suspect, who belonged to a politically influential family, denied the charges, saying that that he was being blackmailed by the girl’s family. Dies A man died due to heatstroke here on Sunday. Muhammad Nawaz, a moharrar at the City Police Station, was on duty at the police station when his condition worsened and he died on the spot. The hot weather, supplemented by up to 13 hours of power outages, is causing health problems for the citizens as several people were admitted to hospitals due to gastroenteritis and heatstroke. Potable Water MNA Chaudhry Hamid Hameed says various development schemes, including one for provision of potable water, are underway in Sargodha. He was inaugurating the upgrade scheme of Sui gas supply in the area of Shamsher Town and adjoining colonies where people were facing low gas pressure. Mr Hameed said a plan for ensuring water supply to 200 colonies at a cost of Rs2.50 billion had been launched. He said the government had provided Rs100 million for completion of a flyover near the district courts. Buried Ghulam Shabbir, a labourer who in a roof collapse incident, was laid to rest here on Sunday. The social workers have demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident, saying that the incident happened due to negligence of the iron merchant associated with PML-N. Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2014