Islamabad: An incident occurred on July 24th in Hafizabad district when Shahid Ali, a resident of Chiniot, was returning home with his family. His wife and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter were riding with him on a motorcycle when three armed individuals forcibly stopped them and took them to a sugarcane field.
Shahid Ali reportedly told the dacoits that he was a poor man who worked as a laborer, but they ignored his pleas and began assaulting him. According to the FIR, Shahid Ali attempted to resist, upon which one of the dacoits threatened him with a gun, warning that any resistance would result in him and his daughter being killed.
“In front of me, they forcibly removed my wife’s clothes,” Shahid Ali stated in the FIR, adding that one dacoit who was unarmed began undressing his wife and then started assaulting them both. Two dacoits remained standing over him with pistols throughout the assault. After the assault, all three dacoits warned Shahid Ali and his wife to remain silent and leave the area immediately, threatening to kill them if anyone found out about the incident.
“We left there on the motorcycle,” Shahid Ali mentioned in the FIR, appealing that if the culprits are caught, he can identify them properly.
The incident of robbery and assault continued to be under the jurisdiction of the police station, as Shahid Ali discovered upon visiting the Sikhi Mandi police station that the case fell within the jurisdiction of another police station. When this was brought to the attention of DPO Hafizabad, he immediately redirected the case to the SHO of Sikhi Mandi.
The affected individual’s FIR was also registered, and DPO Hafizabad, Faisal Gulzar, emphasized that not only was the SHO found negligent in this incident, but he has been found negligent on several other occasions as well.
Medical examinations were conducted in connection with the assault incident. However, instead of assigning Inspector Rink to the case, which would be appropriate for such a major case, an ordinary officer was sent to the hospital, which was seen as a dereliction of duty. Consequently, it was felt that the case was not being taken seriously enough, leading to the officer’s suspension.
Legally, if this incident had occurred within the jurisdiction of another district, including the FIR, everything would have been transferred there. One suspect has been arrested, and two pistols have been recovered, with a search ongoing for the remaining two suspects.
