Model Town Judicial Magistrate Maqsod Anjum on Saturday remanded in judicial custody for 14 days three constables accused of harassing four young people and demanding a ransom for two girls’ release from their parents.
Shadman Police Investigation Officer Jameel produced the three accused Ishaaq, Sher Afzal and Shahzad before the court on Saturday and said that the investigation against them had been completed.
He said the police were still searching for a fourth accused, Ghaffar. The magistrate sent the three accused to jail and ordered the police to produce them along with the challan against them on April 21.
According to an inquiry into the incident conducted by DIG Major (r) Mubashirullah, the police constables had taken two boys and two girls into custody and extorted money from them.
They had made one of the boys withdraw Rs15,000 from his bank using his ATM card.
They had also contacted the parents of the two girls, students of Gulberg College for Women, told them their daughters had been kidnapped and demanded a ransom for their return.
The girls’ parents lodged a kidnapping case at the Gulberg police station. In retaliation, the accused constables registered a case under Sections 371A and 371B (buying and selling persons for the purpose of prostitution) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against the two girls and two boys at Shadman police station, saying they had been arrested for ‘merrymaking’ in a raid on Evergreen Hotel in Shadman police jurisdiction last Monday.
After the DIG’s inquiry, conducted on the orders of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Shadman police registered a case against the constables under Sections 170 and 171 (impersonating a public servant) and Section 384 (extortion) of the PPC and Section 156 (unnecessarily searching a place or detaining a person) of the Police Order of 2002 on the complaint of one of the girls’ uncles.
The DIG had also suspended Mehboob, the muharrar of Shadman police station, for his role in the incident and for negligence.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2012.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ