KARACHI: HRCP team doubts fair handling of assault case
By Bhagwandas
KARACHI, April 7: The fact-finding team of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed its fear that colleagues may try to come to the rescue of two policemen accused of sodomizing a minor in Shah Faisal Colony Gate area recently.
The team members, including Amanullah and Abdul Hayee, visited the area and met the victim’s family, investigation officer of the case as well as the accused and other people to ascertain facts.
Talking to Dawn, the HR activists said that in the absence of medical report which was an essential document to prove that the act of sodomy had been committed, the victim’s position in the case seemed weak.
As such, they insisted, medical examination of the victim must be conducted so that the culprits could not go scot-free despite committing a heinous crime.
In its report, the team said that the victim, 13-year-old Mohammad Owais, had narrated his ordeal to his mother, sister and elder brother on way to hospital with them. According to him, he was caught by four policemen upon disembarking from a bus at Colony Gate at around 10.20pm on March 27. He said that the policemen snatched the bag he was carrying and handed it over to a shopkeeper with instruction to return the same to him only on payment of Rs1,000.
Later, Owais revealed, they policemen took him to a dark corner in the parking area of Faisal Shopping Centre and sodomized him one after the other.
Owais had also narrated the ordeal to Dr Sanjay of the Department of Plastic Reconstructive Surgery and Burns Unit of Civil Hospital in presence of his brother and an ASI of Orangi Town, Shahid. The HRCP team’s report noted that Dr Sanjay did call the medico-legal officer (MLO), Dr Nazeer, to witness the medical examination in order to verify the results. However, the report indicated, Dr Nazeer stayed away for reasons best known to him. The medical examination, therefore, could not be conducted, it added.
Owais’s death report showed the cause of his death as “cardio-respiratory failure due to burns.”
The HRCP team also met the investigation officer, SI Kamran, who said that he had met Dr Sanjay and gone through his report. The SI opined that the case should have also been registered under Section 322 PPC, besides Hadood Ordinance. He pointed out that since the medical examination with specific consideration of the alleged sodomy had not been carried, there was 100 per cent possibility that the accused might not be convicted.
The reports quoted Mr Kamran as saying in presence of father, uncle and brother of the victim that Owais’s family had not allowed his medical examination to be conducted. However, the report noted that Mr Kamran’s claim was instantly refuted by the family. They maintained that they were confused over the specific medical examination that was required to be conducted and the one already underway in the Burns Ward. They contended that the confusion was caused due to their lack of knowledge of legal matters and procedures, the report said.
The team members also met the four accused policemen — Abdullah, Dildar, Siddique and Fazal-i-Rabbi Khurram — who denied having committed sodomy. They maintained that they had spotted the boy as he emerged from a dark area. He was let off without being caused any harm, they maintained.
Defending himself, one of the accused said that he could not even think of committing such act as he had eight children. Another claimed that he just happened to be there to see a friend when arrested.
It has been gathered that Owais was a drop out student of class four as he could not continue study due to poverty. He worked in a garment factory but was presently jobless. On March 27, he had gone to Lawrence Road to meet his sister and was on way back home when the four accused intercepted him as soon as he disembarked from a bus at Colony Gate.
Owais, carrying a polythene bag in his hands, reached home at around 11.00pm and got into bathroom. A few minutes later, responding to the call of his mother and sister, he opened the door of bathroom and the family members saw his oil-soaked body. Weeping and shouting that something wrong had happened to him, he set himself on fire. His mother rushed to rescue him by wrapping her headscarf (dupatta) over his body but in vain as flames had swiftly engulfed his body. Somebody brought a blanket to extinguish the fire but it was already too late. The boy had sustained 84 per cent burns by that time.
Owais was rushed to a hospital and on the way he narrated his ordeal to the accompanying family members. Though he succumbed after more than five hours of struggle by doctors, he succeeded in recording his statement with the doctor at Civil Hospital.
