ISLAMABAD: Victims of a police raid on a private party in Shahpur have accused the police of raiding the premises without fulfilling legal requirements.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Malik Imran and Mohammad Ali Raza said they had been part of a gathering of a group of friends. Mr Imran, who introduced himself as a volunteer, said the police did not have the right to raid private premises without arrest warrants.

Bhara Kahu police had raided the party at around 7:30am on April 28 and apprehended 25 men and 22 women. Mr Imran alleged on Monday that individuals who were willing to bribe the police were allowed to leave, while the rest were booked on various charges, including prostitution.

He added that the police did not recover any drugs from the farmhouse, and did not test the men and women arrested. He said the magistrate granted all the arrested people bail the next day after dropping the charges.

“If there was a prostitution case, why did the police avoid medical tests of arrested people,” Mr Imran asked, adding that a married couple were among those arrested.

He also claimed that the police had mistreated those arrested, and showed a video in which a woman who had been arrested had an arm injury.

Mr Raza claimed that he himself was released after paying Rs25,000.

The speakers demanded action for what they called an illegal raid. They said the victims had lodged an application before the inspector general of police and the chief commissioner seeking action against the police officials. They added that women were not included in the raiding team.

Bhara Kahu Station House Officer (SHO) Haq Nawaz denied the allegations made at the press conference, saying the police had raided an all-night party in the morning. He said they had warrant orders, and women were part of the raiding team.

He said there was one lady constable who had been part of the raiding party, but six more women handled the arrested women after all those arrested were brought to the police station.

He claimed there was “no truth in the charges being levelled by the participants of the party”, and added that the police had carried out the raid after completing the legal formalities.

When asked about the allegations of bribery, he said the police did not demand bribe for anyone.

“An official of the Rawalpindi police was even arrested during the raid, and we proceeded against him as we did against the others,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2018