A Rescue 1122 officer was taken into custody on Saturday in Punjab’s Mandi Bahauddin district after being accused of rape, police confirmed.
In a video statement, Mandi Bahauddin District Emergency Officer Imran Khan acknowledged the arrest and suspension of the suspect, who served as a rescue and safety officer (RSO) in Malakwal. He stated that upon receiving the complaint, the head office promptly launched an inquiry and suspended the accused while cooperating with law enforcement agencies.
An FIR was registered at Malakwal police station under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with the punishment for rape. The complainant alleged in the FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, that the suspect had been sexually assaulting her for the past three years. She further claimed that he blackmailed her by offering a job in exchange for four tolas of gold.
A suspension order dated January 17, seen by Dawn.com, revealed that the divisional emergency officer had formed an inquiry committee to probe the allegations, which included harassment, intimidation, creating unethical videos and images, and accepting bribes for job offers within the department. The officer was instructed to provide a written defense within seven days, failing which it would be assumed that he had no defense or had accepted the charges.
In related news, last week a suspect was arrested in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a four-year-old girl in a village in Punjab’s Gujrat district. Additionally, Punjab police recently established specialized units to investigate sexual crimes across the province under the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act, in response to concerns over flawed investigations into such cases.
