MULTAN/DG KHAN: A rape case FIR by a woman against a judicial officer and her `disappearance’ within 24 hours apparently left Dera Ghazi Khan police puzzled.

The FIR (31/21) was lodged under Section 376 of Pakistan Penal Code with the Civil Lines police station on Jan 21 on the complaint of a resident of Multan’s Gulgasht Colony.

The complainant, in her application, stated she had family terms with the suspect and a few months ago she had given him 10-tola gold for the job of her younger sister.

She alleged the suspect neither managed the job for her sister nor did he return the gold.

She stated that after repeated requests from her for the return of the gold, the suspect told her that he would return it if any woman came to receive it from him in Dera Ghazi Khan.

She stated she went to Dera Ghazi Khan on Jan 21 and the suspect bundled her into his car and took her to a rest house where he, along with an unidentified suspect, raped her at gunpoint.

Civil Lines SHO Ghazal Haider Khan declined to comment on the case.

Sources said a settlement had taken place between the parties and the complainant disappeared and hid herself in Karachi. Police, they said, had sent a team to trace the complainant in the port city.

They said that after submitting the complaint, the woman left the city as the settlement between the parties took place and when the SHO called her for lodging an FIR and medical examination, she refused to turn up.

They said the police registered a case against the suspect despite the fact that the complainant had refused to come for her medical examination.

DG Khan SP Investigation Hasan Javed Bhatti said police were investigation the matter. He denied having knowledge of any settlement between the complainant and suspect.

DPO Umer Saeed told Dawn the FIR would be quashed if the complainant did not come to pursue the case. He said her statement in which she claimed that she had mistakenly called 15 would also be considered for quashing the FIR.

A police source said the complainant was the same woman who had levelled an identical charge on an official based in Kot Chhutta tehsil and then settled the issue after getting money.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2021