A police constable who threatened to kill and was verbally abusive towards a transgender colleague who serves as the head of the Transgender Protection Unit in Islamabad has been arrested.
Victim Support Officer and Head of Transgender Protection Unit Nayyab Ali was threatened by a police constable on Friday when she went to the Ramna Police Station in Islamabad to report a crime committed against another transgender person, Paro Khan.
Nayyab Ali registered an FIR against the constable under section 506ii of Pakistan Penal Code.
According to the registered FIR, a police constable pulled up on his bike and used derogatory terms to address Nayyab and Paro. At this, Nayyab told him her name and rank and sternly told him to refrain from using such terminology as it was inappropriate.
The constable then took his gun out of its holster and pointed it at Nayyab and said that if she said another word he would shoot her 'like a dog'. Nayyab says that none of the other police officers present apprehended him, instead, they just took him away to the side. He eventually came back and began hurling abuses at them.
At this point the police officers weren't letting Nayyab and Paro leave the station, after which the transgender community showed up outside the station to protest.
In the FIR Nayyab says that when the SHO finally showed up to the station, instead of being supportive, he also started to threaten and abuse Nayyab, threatening to 'rip off the uniforms of the transgenders in order to teach them a lesson'.
“I have yet to be given police protection from the the Ramna police station until an inquiry is conducted and concluded,” the complainant said in the FIR, adding, “I feel very unsafe and threatened by these police officers who I once called my colleagues.”