BATTAGRAM: The police have registered a case against the Battagram sub-jail superintendent for assaulting a girl inmate on Oct 2.

Police officials told Dawn that a girl was lodged in the sub-jail under section 406 of Pakistan Penal Code. They said the girl submitted a written complaint to the police that Shehryar Khan, the sub-jail superintendent, summoned her to his office and assaulted her.

She told the police that she cried for help but no one came to her rescue.

SHO Battagram city police station Imtiaz Shah told Dawn that a case had been registered against the accused under sections 376 and 506 of PPC. He said the complainant was taken to the District Headquarters Hospital, Battagram, for medical examination.

However, he said the jail official secured bail-before-arrest and disappeared from the scene, fearing local people’s wrath.

Meanwhile, following the registration of the FIR against the accused, the home and tribal affairs department suspended the jail official and sent him to the inspectorate of prisons as an OSD. The department has also constituted an inquiry committee comprising Umair Khan, deputy inspector general, prisons, Hazara division, as its head, and Nagina Mehsud, superintendent district jail, Mansehra, as its member.

Meanwhile, the police said the residents of Ajmera village on Monday forced the family of the sub-jail superintendent to leave the area. They said the family fled to a relative’s house in Thakot.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2024