RAWALPINDI: It took more than one-and-a-half years for a widow to get a complaint registered against a station house officer (SHO) and other policemen for allegedly storming into her house, torturing her family members and snatching Rs7 million along with gold jewellery and a car.

Rosheena, the widow of Ali Sher, said she had been knocking the doors of police officers, including the additional inspector general and the city police officer, to get justice. But her efforts always proved unproductive as none of the officers was willing to take action against Inspector Abdul Sattar Khan, who is now posted as the SHO of Sadiqabad.

However, the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) registered a corruption case against Mr Khan and others on Wednesday.

When contacted, Amjad Bhatti, the spokesperson for the ACE regional director, confirmed that a case had been registered against the SHO on the complaint of a woman.

In her complaint, the widow said after the death of her husband she had been living with her parents-in-law and five teenage children.

Widow tells ACE the policemen stormed her house and looted cash and valuables in March 2013

On March 22, 2013, a day after she shifted to a rented house at Morgah, a large number of policemen surrounded the house.

She said some of the 30 to 40 people were in police uniform and others in civvies. The policemen were led by Inspector Abdul Sattar Khan, who was the SHO of Morgah at that time.

“They locked all of us, including my father-in-law, mother-in-law and children, in a room and started searching the house,” the woman told Dawn.

She said first the family thought that the intruders were robbers but later it emerged that they were policemen.

She claimed that whenever she or her father-in-law asked the policemen why they were torturing them, they used abusive language.

They snatched mobile phones from the inmates of the house and also held hostage those who came to our house.

She claimed that the intruders remained inside the house for three days during which they prepared meal for themselves but didn’t give to the children and other inmates.

She alleged that the intruders snatched Rs7 million and 3,500 dollars in cash which she had kept in the house after selling her property. “I beg to them to return the money as I wanted to buy a house but they took away the cash saying you will get it back.” She said the policemen also took away a XLI car parked outside the house.

She said the same evening the police also picked up her father-in-law and brother-in-law and kept them in illegal detention for two days.

She also alleged that later Inspector Khan also took Rs500,000 from her promising that he would return her gold ornaments and other valuables.

She said the police inspector also asked her to withdraw a complaint lodged with the city police officer and in return he would give her the cash and other valuables back.

When contacted, SHO Abdul Sattar Khan told Dawn that the family’s four male members had a history of crimes as one of them had already been killed in a police encounter earlier.

“The police raid at her Morgah house was in connection with a robbery case. And she got back all the cash and valuables seized by the police through the court of law,” Mr Khan said, adding the ACE did not listen to him before the registration of the case.

Published in Dawn, September 25th , 2014