Scuffle in Karachi's DHA: Fresh case registered after inquiry report finds first FIR unsubstantiated

KARACHI: A resident of Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) has sought action against her neighbours and police personnel for allegedly beating her in a fresh case registered in connection with a scuffle outside her apartment last month, it emerged on Sunday.

The matter came to light when the CCTV footage of the physical altercation at an apartment building in DHA’s Phase 6 surfaced on social media last week. The footage showed police officials restraining a woman as another woman with a dumbbell attacked her.

However, the initial first information report of the incident was registered against the woman who was assaulted and her brother. But an inquiry report later said that the allegations in the FIR were “not substantiated” by the findings and also recommended departmental action against police officials involved in the incident.

The report also said the first FIR should be disposed of, and subsequently, another was registered at the Darakhan police station on September 5.

In the second FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the complainant said she was a resident of a third-floor apartment in DHA, Phase 6.

The FIR quoted her as saying that on August 20 at 11:45pm, she was at her house with her brother and mother when a police officer rang the apartment’s doorbell and told her that her neighbour was calling them to the ground floor.

Shortly after, the complainant continued, her neighbour came upstairs while hurling curses and started banging on the door. “When I opened the door, she dragged me by the hair, snatched my phone, and threw it down,” she alleged.

“When my mother came out, she grabbed her by the hair as well and beat her,” the complainant claimed, adding that her neighbour then pinned her to a wall.

The neighbour then went to her apartment and came back with her daughter and some police officials and “attempted to take away our phones, […] and her daughter, who was carrying a dumbbell, hit us”, she alleged.

She further stated that she, along with her family, ran inside the house and called the police. “Meanwhile, the police officials outside broke the CCTV camera and later, the Darakshan police broke into our house and took my and my brother’s cellphones away,” the FIR said.

The complainant sought action against the suspects for “beating me, stealing our mobile phones and damaging the security camera”.

The case was registered under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148(rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 379 (punishment for theft), 427(mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), and 337A(i) (whoever, by doing any act with the intention of thereby causing hurt to any person, or with the knowledge that he is likely thereby to cause hurt to any person) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

CCTV

In the CCTV footage of the incident, a woman can be seen rushing down a flight of stairs with a dumbbell in her hand and charging at another woman before using it to hit her.

The video also showed two individuals in what appeared to be police uniforms restraining the woman being assaulted, and a man who came up the stairs shortly after and began arguing with the woman with the dumbbell.

At one point, the man and woman being assaulted managed to go inside what appeared to be their home, following which the woman with a dumbbell and another man began banging on their door and yelling obscenities.

At the end, a man in a shalwar kameez was seen using a weapon, provided by one of the people in uniform, to smash the CCTV camera.

Inquiry report

An inquiry report, which was issued on Friday, found that the incident was sparked by a parking dispute between the mother-in-law of Korangi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Fida Hussain Janwari and another resident.

It identified the police officials visible in the CCTV footage as constables Saqib and Haider Sultan. It further added that the plainclothes man who destroyed the CCTV camera in the footage was Constable Taimoor Ahmed, while the official who handed over his weapon for this purpose was Constable Amir Sohail.

“All were detailed for duty at the private bungalow of the Korangi SSP,” it said, adding that strict departmental action should be taken against them.

It further said that the on-the-spot arrests in the case without justifiable evidence by Darakshan Station House Officer Rashid Ali and Assistant Sub-inspector Aftab Mangi were not justifiable and spoke of the officials’ “tilt towards the aggressive party”.

It said that the investigating officer, identified as Sub Inspector Imran, also undertook “no serious efforts” to collect evidence and did not independently apply his mind to investigate the case.

“Hence, all three officials of District South are recommended to be strictly proceeded against departmentally for miscarriage of justice,” it said.

It further said that the “lapse of supervision and lack of control over his subordinates is evident on the part of the Korangi SSP”. It called for examining his overall conduct in light of Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 2020 and to take further action in this regard.

The report also said that an FIR should be registered against the SSP’s mother-in-law and her daughter and son, as well as the police officials present at the time of the incident, while the “victim family shall be encouraged to initiate legal action at free will against them”.