PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan has removed a senior police officer from field duty allegedly for harassing a woman, says an official statement issued by the central police office.

A case has been registered against the officer at Chamkani police station and an inquiry also ordered to probe the issue, the statement said.

On Wednesday, a woman, a resident of the provincial capital, while holding a news conference at Peshawar Press Club leveled serious allegations against a senior KP police official for harassing her.

She told reporters that she was married but her husband was being chased by the police officer and forced to divorce her, adding that the police officer was also asking her to get ‘Khula’ (apply for divorce in court) and marry him.

“He (the police officer) is misusing his authority and harassing me. He chases my husband and threatens to kill him. He also threatened to kill my kids if my husband did not divorce me,” the woman alleged.

The woman, who claims to be a university teacher, said that she had filed a complaint against the police officer at office of the KP police chief, but to no avail.

“The officer through different other persons pressurised my husband so much that he even agreed to divorce me,” she told media persons.

She said the police official later came to her home and tortured her, adding that the police refused to file a complaint against their colleague.

Meanwhile, the police officer in a statement refuted the allegation and said the lady had a dispute with her husband and he (the officer) had only tried to mediate to resolve their issue.

He claimed that the woman used to visit his home and his children would also visit the lady’s home, adding the lady later herself expressed her wish to marry him.

On Thursday, KP police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan ordered the police officer to report to central police office where at the same time ordered an inquiry into the issue.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2023