KARACHI: The Gulshan-i-Iqbal police on Wednesday arrested a ward boy of a private hospital allegedly for attempted sexual assault on a physically challenged woman patient being treated in the intensive care unit of the health facility, officials said.

They said the suspect was arrested after initial investigation which corroborated the claims of the complainant suggesting that the suspect attempted the crime and ran away after the woman put up resistance.

“Early in the morning a man approached the police with a complaint saying that his wife was attacked by a member of staff at a private hospital in Block 2, Gulshan-i-Iqbal,” said an official at the Gulshan police station. “He told police that his wife was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday evening and by night the doctors shifted her to the ICU owing to her serious condition. The hospital administration asked the family to leave to return on Wednesday as no attendant was allowed with a patient in the ICU.”

When the woman’s husband returned on Wednesday morning, the official said, he found the woman crying and scared. On his inquiry, she told him about the previous night’s alleged assault.

“The woman told her husband that in the middle of the night, the ward boy came to her” and attempted to assault her. “When she [resisted], he threatened her and locked the door of the ICU which did not have many patients. He attempted to molest her but ran away after she screamed. On a complaint, the police rushed to the hospital, identified the suspect with the assistance of the woman and arrested him,” said the official.

He said the arrested suspect had been booked under Section 354 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Mob thrashes bandit

A badly injured bandit was handed over to the police after he was given a hiding by the area people who caught him red-handed while snatching cash and valuables from a family in Nazimabad.

The area police said two youngsters on a motorbike pulled up outside a milk shop in Nazimabad near Gol Market. One of them entered the shop and snatched cash, a mobile phone and other valuables from the owner, which was witnessed by the people outside and in neighbouring shops.

“The shop is situated along the main road,” said an official at the Nazimabad police station. “It’s quite a busy spot and at anytime you may find dozens of pedestrians, mostly walking on the road, in this area. The situation [deteriorated] when the bandits fired a shot on resistance while leaving the shop. Witnessing the incident, a group of people, mostly youngsters, approached the bandits and managed to overpower one of them when he was trying to escape from the scene with his aide, who sped away.”

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2019