Inspector General of Police (IGP) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Salahuddin Khan Mehsud has ordered the suspension of 11 police officials, including station house officers and clerks, of two police stations in Abbottabad district for allegedly refusing to lodge a rape case, DawnNews TV reported on Saturday.

The district police officer (DPO) of Abbottabad executed the IG's orders, issued after Mehsud received a complaint from a rape victim.

The woman had told the IG that she had been kidnapped from Sahiwal, raped, and abandoned in Abbottabad.

The victim had first approached the Mirpur police station to register a first information report (FIR) of the abduction and rape, but was turned away by officers present there, who told her to instead lodge a case in Havelian police station, located at a distance of 12 kilometres.

She was handed over to a truck driver, who was told to drive her to Havelian. According to the victim, she was sexually assaulted by the truck driver as well.

When she finally arrived at Havelian police station, the station house officer there also refused to register a case.

The woman then came to the IG KP to report the incident, who directed the DPO to suspend the staff of both Mirpur and Havelian police stations and form a high-level committee to hold an investigation of the matter.