ISLAMABAD: A woman accused the capital police of arresting her former office colleague after registering a fake FIR against him in connivance with her husband.

Officials in the police and the district courts told Dawn on Thursday that the woman appeared before a judicial magistrate and contested the veracity of the FIR her husband got registered against her former office colleague. She also claimed that no such incident had occurred with her as stated in the FIR on the basis of which the accused was arrested from her house.

The FIR was registered by the Aabpara police in response to a complaint lodged by the woman’s husband on February 2. According to the FIR compiled by Assistant Sub-Inspector Imran Haider, on February 2 at around 5:20pm he woke up after hearing the shouts of his wife in his house. When the husband came out of his room, he spotted a man manhandling his wife inside the house. The complainant along with his cousin overpowered the intruder.

According to the FIR, the woman told her husband that the intruder was her former office colleague and had been blackmailing her. She said after she did not attend his phone calls, he reached home. The FIR further stated that the man threatened the woman and her husband with dire consequences and asked them to let him go.

But the complainant called the police who reached the house and took the man away. At the police station, a case was registered against him under sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 452 (house-trespass) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty).

After the man was sent to jail, his counsel filed a bail application with the local court which was rejected. When the case was again taken up on March 9, the woman appeared before judicial magistrate Mohammad Naseeruddin and contradicted the contents of the FIR.

She said the contents of the FIR were incorrect, adding such an incident had never occurred with her.

The court in its order issued on March 13 stated: “This is the second bail application filed by the petitioner before this court. His earlier bail application was dismissed by this court as well as by the additional sessions judge (west).”

The counsel stated that his client was falsely implicated in the case.

“The wife of the complainant also appeared before the court and submitted an affidavit stating that she had no objection on the acceptance of the bail application.” She also stated that the claim of the prosecution mentioned in the FIR was concocted.

“In these circumstances, I am of the view that the petitioner is entitled for the concession of bail,” the court order added.

The investigation officer of the case, ASI Imran Haider, told Dawn that the woman was a government official and working in the ministry of religious affairs while the accused was her ex-colleague.

He said the woman’s husband first lodged a complaint with the office of the SSP, stating that the man was blackmailing her wife and him. The ASI added: “In response, we were told that the woman’s husband will call the police when the man comes to his house. So the police acted on the direction and arrested the man in response to the call.”

When asked on what grounds the man was blackmailing the couple, the ASI said the accused had some photographs of the woman. “These were not objectionable but in the pictures the woman and the accused were sitting side by side,” he added.

About the statement of the woman in the court, the ASI said he did not know on what grounds she had given the statement.

Replying a question if there was a vested interest for the police to help the complainant getting “a fake FIR” as stated by the woman, the IO said after the registration of the case neither the woman nor his husband visited the offices of the SSP, the station house officer and the IO.

When contacted, the woman’s husband seemed reluctant to talk on the issue. He claimed that his wife had given the statement in the court due to family pressure.

According to police sources, the accused was arrested somewhere else but the Aabpara police claimed in the FIR that he was held from the house of the woman.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2016