Peshawar cops to be trained about dealing with juveniles, females, transgender persons

PESHAWAR: The cops in the provincial capital would be imparted training about dealing with juvenile, female and transgender victims as well as offenders to avoid untoward incidents that occurred recently, officials said on Saturday.

The Capital City Police recently set up Special Juvenile Units to keep a check on the lock-ups and facilitate the juvenile victims and offenders.

There were a number of incidents in recent years in Peshawar and rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in which women, children and transgender persons complained of being tortured, humiliated and deprived of their due rights by the police in the aftermath of any incident.

The criticism increased recently when a grade-7 student, Shah Zeb, committed suicide in the lock-up of the West Cantonment Police Station in Peshawar after he was held by the police following an alleged clash with shopkeepers. There was nobody to guard the lock-up while the cops did not shift the teenaged student to a special observation room established for juveniles.

“We have planned imparting training to the policemen about dealing with juvenile, women and transgender victims as well as offenders. The training will be imparted with the help of a non-governmental organisation next week,” Senior Superintendent of Police, Operations Peshawar, Yasir Afridi told The News.

The official said they have set up Special Juvenile Units of police recently.

“We have set up these units at every circle. A unit consists of one sub inspector, head constable, constable and a lady constable. A DSP is deployed as a welfare officer,” he added.

After the Shah Zeb incident, many were asking for proper training of the cops about the rights of minors, women and transgender people. Questions were also raised about absence of observation rooms for juveniles and lack of keeping a check on the lock-up despite installing CCTV cameras.

The other day, a transgender, Sweetie, approached the police with the complaint of rape and torture by some locals while on way back home after performing at a function. Police later said all the four accused have been arrested.

A number of such incidents have been reported over the last few months. In some cases, the members of the transgender community ransacked a police station for not lodging their case and failing to provide them security.