Lahore: The Punjab government has removed Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and a Divisional Superintendent of Police (SP) of Lahore Police Operations from their posts and suspended two other officers from service. Attack, humiliation and harassment of a woman TikToker by a violent mob at Minar-e-Pakistan on August 14.
The Project Director and Deputy Director of Greater Iqbal Park were also suspended from service.
On Independence Day, video clips of over 400 men assaulting a woman went viral on social media, sparking a wave of anger and widespread criticism.
In the case of DIG (Operations) Sajid Kiyani, the Punjab Government recommended suspension of the Establishment Division from service and departmental action against the officer.
In a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Usman Buzdar here on Friday, action was taken against all the officers to review the progress in the investigation of cases registered against 400 suspects of assault and harassment.
Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Gani, Law Minister Raja Basharat and several senior officials attended the meeting.
30 suspects caught; Chouhan says civil, military agencies working jointly on the matter
A senior official told Dawn that during the meeting, the IGP submitted its report to the chief minister, proposing action against senior officials of the Lahore Police.
In the report, Mr Ghani admitted that the police’s response to calls made to 15 helplines by the woman’s friends at the time of the incident and the inordinate delay in registering the case were reasons enough to take strict action against the police officials. Concerned.
During the meeting, the IGP faced embarrassment when it was reported that the suspects assaulted the woman for nearly four hours and the first call for help was made at 5:28 pm.
This was followed by three more calls, but the police responded very late, the officer said, adding that the meeting was told that criminal negligence in helping the woman was one of the reasons that increased the gravity of the attack.
After the report submitted by the IGP and the Home Department, the CM expressed displeasure over the negligence of the police and proposed major action against the concerned police officers. He said the police response to the incident was below public expectations, and expressed concern over the public attack on the woman in Lahore and other similar incidents.
Punjab government spokesperson Fayyazul Hasan Chauhan shared the details of the meeting. During the meeting, it was decided to suspend Lahore DIG (Operations) Sajid Kiyani, SSP (Operations) Syed Nadeem Abbas, City Division SP Hassan Jehangir, Badami Bagh Deputy Superintendent of Police Usman Haider and Laurie Adda Station House Officer Muhammad Jameel from service. ,” he said in a video statement.
He said that action is proposed for the negligence of the officer in handling the incident.
Mr Chouhan said, “The police have so far arrested more than 30 suspects in this case from different parts of the city and the province.”
He further informed that the civil and military agencies were working jointly on the matter.
“We have suspended the concerned SHO and DSP from service, while the Divisional SP, SSP (Operations) and DIG (Operations) have been removed from their posts,” the IGP said in a tweet on Friday.
He said strict departmental action would be taken after the inquiry committee submits its detailed report on the role and response of other police officers.
Meanwhile, the police arrested 30 suspects, mostly youths, in connection with the case.
“We have arrested 30 suspects and about 12 of them were present when the woman was assaulted,” the IGP said in a statement.
He said the officials identified the suspects and started cracking down on them after geo-fencing the area and obtaining mobile phone call records.
As per the preliminary investigation report, he said, several youths who were celebrating Independence Day at the park when the woman was attacked, had come from Bannu and Dir districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while some others were from South Punjab. However, most of the arrested suspects lived in the vicinity of Minar-e-Pakistan.
“The police sought help from the national database and registration authority to determine the identity of the suspects, apart from using other available options,” the official said.
Responding to a question, he said that the suspects include some followers of the woman on Tiktok. Similarly, the police teams were strictly following the social media friends of the woman who were present at the time of the incident, the officer said.
He said that the medical examination report of the woman has also been issued, which confirms that she suffered some injuries during the attack. Reports showed swelling and bruises on some parts of his body, he added, adding that he also had scratch marks on his upper body.
Published in Dawn, August 21, 2021
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