Motorway police suspend two officers over incident of man abusing bus host
The man — identified as Malik Nadeem — had asked the bus host for water but became furious when she took some time
April 09, 2019
LAHORE: The Motorway Police has suspended two officers over an incident on Sunday near Pindi Bhattian wherein a passenger harassed and verbally abused a bus host of a private transportation company.
The National Highways & Motorway Police (NH&MP) sprang into action after a video of the incident went viral on social media. It suspended woman inspector Naseem Kaliyar and officer Israr Ahmed for not taking timely legal action against the rude man.
According to the NH&MP, the private transportation company's bus was travelling on the Lahore-Islamabad route — the M2 Motorway — on Sunday night and was passing through Pindi Bhattian when the incident took place.
The man in question — identified as Malik Nadeem — had asked the bus host for water but became furious when she took some time in bringing him water. The man then started arguing with her over the delay and, losing all decency, threatened and verbally abused her.
Malik Nadeem also threatened the bus host of dire consequences and told her that he would throw her out of the bus.
As this transpired, none of the other passengers intervened; instead, some of them ask her to let it go and not respond to the obnoxious man. Towards the end of the video, the bus host can be seen bursting into tears.
When the bus driver, however, alerted the NH&MP, Kaliyar, the woman inspector, and officer Israr Ahmed arrived at the scene, prompting Malik Nadeem to apologise to the bus host. However, upon some of the passengers' insistence, Nadeem was asked to leave the bus and board another one.
It was when the video went viral on social media on Monday that the authorities took notice and suspended Kaliyar and Ahmed for not taking timely legal action against the unruly man. The NH&MP, consequently, has ordered an investigation into the matter.
Incidents of such behaviour are common in Pakistan and, in some cases, have turned violent and resulted in deaths as well.
Similar incident involving furious man
Last year, on June 9, an 18-year-old bus host was shot dead in Faisalabad for refusing a marriage proposal.
According to closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the murder obtained by Geo News on June 16, a guard had approached Mehvish, the bus host, on Sargodha Road as she was getting ready to go home from work, whence he cornered her on a stairwell in a street and held her at gunpoint.
Omar Daraz — the guard in question — was seen to have exchanged some words with her, right after which he opened fire on her, killing her instantly. He attempted to escape the scene of the crime but other employees near the bus stand caught him and handed him over to police.
According to the deceased's mother, she was the sole breadwinner of their family. She had also said her daughter’s life would have been saved if she were provided with medical aid earlier.
The suspect, Omar Daraz, had confessed during the investigation to killing Mehvish and said he did so because he wanted to marry her but she had refused.
Shortly thereafter, another incident came to light when the video of a security guard harassing a bus host emerged. He was seen misbehaving with her and later slapped her upon resistance.
