Husna Ali
KARACHI, February 28, 2006: Two police personnel have been suspended and confined in Police Quarters on charges of molesting a teenage girl at Hill Park, while the case is being investigated.

Investigations by The News revealed that Head Constable Raja Naeem and PC Wali Mohammad of Ferozabad Police Station have been suspended, while investigation is being carried out for robbery and molestation charges against them.

A teenage girl recently complained that she was molested in Hill Park on the evening of February 24 by the police personnel while she was sitting with her family. The teenage girl, resident of Korangi, was taken to a desolate place in the park to supposedly search her for carrying anything illegalí and was then molested by Raja Naeem and Wali Mohammad. She was later denied any assistance at the Ferozabad Police Station.

The victim went with her uncle, Ibrahim, to lodge a complaint against the police personnel but her complaint was not entertained and no case was filed against the accused. Later, she was also denied medical examination by the MLO of Jinnah Hospital where she waited the whole night.

According to the police version, a group of three women and two men were sitting in Hill park at 3am and on the inquiry of police personnel got into an argument with them. They were then brought to the police station but released afterwards.

This version, however, came after two days of denying by Ferozabad Police. Many officers, including TPO, were unaware of the incident, and only started investigation when this scribe approached them several times for comments and when an evening newspaper reported the story.

“I have learnt that they took mobile phones and Rs5,000 from the people but we are investigating the molestation charges,” SHO Ferozabad Aurangzeb told The News. He said that “even if they have only taken money, they would still be punished because we do not want to discourage people from visiting parks and recreation centres”.

An official in the CPLC has assured that the victim would be provided with a medical letter and strict action would be taken against the officers if they are found guilty. Mian Jamsheed Inamullah, ASP Ferozabad, has been appointed as the inquiry officer on the directives of Town Police Officer (TPO) Tahir Naveed to investigate the case.
Source: The News
Date:2/28/2006