MULTAN: Punjab chief minister suspended a police deputy superintendent and two station house officers from service on Thursday during a visit to the house of an alleged rape victim, who along with her mother attempted self-immolation after being denied an FIR of the incident.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited the victim’s house at Mauza Alamgir and met with her parents.He expressed his disappointment with police concerned and sympathised with the victim family.

He also admonished Regional Police Officer Amjad Javed Saleemi over cruelty and slackness of his subordinates who refused to file the FIR and arrest the suspects despite the complainant producing her medical report.

The RPO, admitting police negligence, said the matter could not be brought into his notice because of his preoccupation with flood relief work.

Dissatisfied with the answer, the chief minister said it was not just a mistake but it was a criminal negligence.

He said such cases should be lodged without any delay and police officials conniving with the culprits should also not be spared. He ordered suspension of Muzaffarabad DSP Mian Tanveer, SHO Rana Sabir and Qutabpur SHO Faizan Qayyum from service, besides strict action against them.

He constituted a three-member committee, including commissioner, RPO and additional IG (Investigation) with direction to submit a detailed report to him within 72 hours.

“The police officers and other staff if found guilty should be penalised by initiating legal action against them,” he said.

The girl’s parents told the CM police were not even willing to get the victim’s medical examination conducted so they had to move the court. Police did not lodge the case even after a month while none of the suspects was arrested, they added.

They said instead the police arrested the victim’s father on September 22 in a fake case of abduction of the suspect lodged by his father. However, he was later released on the intervention of PML-N MPA Muhammad Ali Khokhar.

The CM issued a warning to the City Police Officer Sultan Ahmed Chaudhry who informed him that the suspect had been arrested.

According to some police circles CPO Chaudhry was spared because he had been CM’s principal secretary.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2014