London: An 18-year-old, Afghan woman was allegedly raped by the district police commissioner in his office when she went to the police station to lodged complaint about ger rape.
The girl identified as Mariam, was taken at gunpoint from her house in the Zareh district of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan in early July to a house on the same street where he and another man raped her.
Mariam said after raping her, he warned her to “keep her mouth shut” or she would be killed.
But the police commissioner Akram Zareh denied any wrongdoing.
He said.”I am an honest policeman. I am 60. She is like my daughter,” adding.”This is a plot against me.”
Mariam was brought to the capital Kabul by her father, Khairuddin, to seek justice.
He said.”My daughter said that she would burn herself alive, because she could not go out of the house and could not make eye contact with anyone due to shame.”
He said he met Afghanistan’s Attorney-General who promised to investigate the case.
Baktash Azizi, the Attorney-General’s chief of staff, said. “Respecting her privacy, the Attorney-General asked Mariam to tell her story to a special female anti-violence officer in private.”
“After hearing the case, the Attorney-General appointed the Balkh provincial prosecutor and a special military prosecutor to investigate and present their findings as soon as possible, “he said.
He added that.”Mr Zareh is still serving as the district police commissioner, and was already being investigated in another rape case”.
Mariam who is in Kabul said she would not go home until he was removed from office.
Due to the shortage of female police officers in Afghanistan women rarely report their abuse.
According to the research more than eight in 10 women in Afghanistan have been sexually, physically or psychologically abused, but only a few thousand cases are reported each year.