What is the law on searching the clothes of 'suspicious' women by male police?
You have often seen police officers stopping vehicles and searching passengers at police checkpoints on various highways of the country. Often there are female passengers in these vehicles who are allowed to leave after a cursory interrogation.
But if a 'suspicious' woman's clothes are to be searched on the basis of a tip, can male police officers do so? There have been reports of women being searched by male police officers in rural areas. But does the law allow it?
If law enforcement officers are to search women's clothing or body search, it is necessary to have female officers according to the law and for that it is necessary to take care of the shame and sanctity of women according to the law and constitution. ۔
But if there are no lady officers on the roads during snap checking or blockade, then what does the law say for male officers and what should male officers do?
If we take the example of Peshawar alone, the total population of this city is more than 2.2 million and the total number of police personnel in this city is 18000. However, there are only 110 female police officers. There is only one lady police station in Peshawar while there are five police stations with women's desk.
During a hearing in the Peshawar High Court yesterday, Justice Musarat Hilali said that male police officers are not allowed to search a woman at all, for which only lady policemen can search. He said that under the law of Pakistan, women have this special right.
The hearing was on for bail of a woman arrested for drug trafficking in which the court granted her bail application.
Police arrested a woman in September on drug trafficking charges. Police said the woman had a bag or shopping bag on Ring Road in Peshawar and a search turned up 3,280 grams of heroin. The accused's lawyer said that the woman was six months pregnant and that they had three children and the woman was searched on a busy highway in Peshawar while no lady constable was present.
During the hearing, it was also stated how her modesty and sanctity would have been taken care of during the search of the woman on the highway and that the lady police officer was not present at the time of the search and arrest. Was
The court was told that the woman was kept in the men's police station for three hours after her arrest, which is against the law. The court expressed anger over the situation, saying that no male officer was allowed to search a woman.
When contacted, senior lawyer Noor Alam Advocate said that if a woman is to be searched or her body parts have to be searched, then it is necessary to have a female police officer and for that a woman. It is important to take care of his shame and dignity. Men cannot be searched in public. So what should the police do?
Peshawar Senior Superintendent of Police Haroon Rasheed told the BBC that male police officers do not chase women under any circumstances and if there is such a compulsion, lady police are called for it. He said that usually if the police raided an informant, a lady police officer would accompany him under the occasion.
He said that lady police personnel are also present at the checkpoints and if any roadblocks are set up suddenly and there are any suspicious women then women are stopped and lady police personnel are called for it.
When asked if there are so many female officers in Peshawar, he said that at present there are 110 lady policemen in Peshawar. Responding to a question, he said that although the number was small, under the present circumstances, lady personnel were deployed as required.
The SSP said that there is definitely a problem when there are no female officers at the check post and the male officers have to check any suspicious women and for this the lady officers are called from the women's police station or the female suspects. Is taken to Lady Police Station.
Senior lawyer Noor Alam Advocate told the BBC that the procedure for making an arrest or search is described under the Criminal Code and under Section 52, when a woman is to be searched, the lady's constable will search and The shame of the woman will be taken care of.
He further said that when a lady officer searches a woman's body and touches her body parts, this process should not be done in front of men and for this it is necessary to take her in a separate veil.
He further said that for interrogation, the suspect woman would have to be taken to Lady Police Station or handed over to the women in the police station or in a separate room and it would be necessary to take care of the veil.
Noor Alam Advocate said that if a female accused has to be taken somewhere for identification, it is also necessary to take care of the time, ie it is necessary to bring her back from 8:00 am to before sunset. Cannot be moved.
He said that even in police training, the officers are trained on how they can use their intelligence to know the relationship between the men and women in the car and what they are learning from their words.
He said that if there were no police personnel on the spot under duress and if it was intended to search a woman, then another woman present there could be asked to search her.
He said that a video went viral on social media in which lady officers were beating women by hanging them upside down and all this was being done at the behest of male officers and now the authorities have also taken notice.
Police officials said that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan, women are not usually checked if they are in a vehicle and this is done in accordance with the culture.
According to Noor Alam Advocate, in general, women are less inclined towards crime while men are more inclined towards crime. He said that it was generally observed that these women were often used by men for crimes.