Multan police have arrested a Station House Officer (SHO), an Investigating Officer (IO), and a moharar after a complainant died by suicide following a six-day delay in registering her rape complaint.
The victim died at Nishtar Hospital on Wednesday evening after consuming poisonous pills in protest against police inaction regarding her complaint filed on July 10 against a suspect.
According to the initial complaint, the suspect entered the house of the victim and raped her. The victim then went to the house of the suspect, where his mother and relatives subjected her to physical torture.
Despite reporting the torture to the police on July 15 and demanding the registration of a rape case, authorities took no action.
New Multan Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Muhammad Irshad, Budhla Sunt SHO Azeem Zulfiqar, Sub-Inspector (SI) Muhammad Waseem, and moharar Muhammad Naeem received the complaint on July 10.
They did not register the case until July 15, the evening the victim chose to end her life.
In response, Punjab Inspector General (IG) Abdul Kareem suspended DSP New Multan Irshad and ordered the registration of a case against the SHO, the IO, and the moharar. The three officials face charges under section 155c of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) which penalizes police officers for misconduct, neglect of duty, or unlawful/unrecorded detentions.
An official police report shows that the SHO denied receiving any complaint regarding rape. The report also notes that the IO failed to arrange a medical examination for the victim and did not send swabs to the laboratory.
According to the reports, a senior police official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, stated that the SHO, the IO, and the moharar engaged in misconduct by delaying the case.
The official shared a voice recording with the press in which the victim called the suspect, demanding that he visit her house and stating that she would consume poison if he refused. In the recording, the suspect refused to visit and questioned how he would be held responsible for her death.
An inquiry team led by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ahmad Nasir Virk from the Internal Accountability Branch (IAB) visited Multan to investigate.
The team recorded statements from the relatives of the victim, her neighbours, and the involved police officers. The final report will be submitted to the Punjab IG within two days.
Following the death of the victim, the Budhla Sunt police registered the rape case against the suspect on July 16. The state also filed a murder case against the suspect, alleging that he forced the woman to swallow the poisonous pills that caused her death.
