Mob mentality: Wagan police lodges FIR against more than 100 people for killing SHO

SUKKUR: Wagan police have lodged an FIR against more than 100 villagers on Tuesday for attacking their station in Qamber-Shahdadkot district on Monday and killing the SHO and a passerby.

The unruly mob attacked the police station on Monday night after they heard that an alleged robber had died during custody.

On Monday, Wagan police conducted a raid at Mian Rato Machi village and arrested Abdul Jabbar Machi on alleged charges of robbery. According to police officials, the accused was being interrogated in the lockup when he fell unconscious. However, someone spread the news in the village that the suspect was tortured to death.

While the police insist that the suspect had only fallen unconscious, sources claimed that he had been killed and the police were covering it up. His death has yet to be confirmed. The newly appointed SHO of Wagan police station, Abdul Salam Chandio said that the accused Abdul Jabbar Machi was arrested because he was nominated in a robbery case, he said, adding that he is still in police custody.

After hearing the rumours, dozens of Mian Rato Machi residents drove their tractor trolleys to Wagan and tried to break into the police station. When the guards at the gates asked them to stop, a heated argument began between the police and the villagers, who then started pelting stones at the law enforcers and charged at them with wooden sticks.

As the situation worsened, the police opened fire at the protesters and critically injured a passerby, Allah Dino. The fight worsened and six more people, including Wagan SHO Samandar Khan Chandio, police constables Irshad Ali Devro and Ghulam Sarwar Mugheri and Saleh Ridh, Saddam Rahojo and Ramzan Khaskheli, were injured.

The injured were rushed to Chandka Medical College Hospital in Larkana, where SHO Samandar Khan Chandio and Allah Dino Panhwar succumbed to their injuries. In the meantime, a large number of policemen also reached the police station to rescue their colleagues but the mob had dispersed.

On Tuesday, Wagan police lodged an FIR against more than 100 persons, out of which 45 are nominated, but have yet to make any arrests, said SHO Chandio. A large number of policemen in an armoured personnel carrier carried out another raid in Mian Rato Machi village but they also failed to make any arrests as most houses had been abandoned. Some sources claimed that the police bulldozed nearly all houses in the village.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2014.