Vigilante justice: Alleged robbers paraded in village with shaved heads

Complainant dissatisfied with police performance, investigates matter with sniffer dogs.

HARIPUR: Two alleged robbers were paraded half-naked with blackened faces on a camel in Khoi Maira village in Khanpur union council on Wednesday. The locals subsequently handed them over to the police.

According to villagers, unidentified robbers barged into the house of a local shopkeeper identified as Munawar in Khoi Maira village on July 26 and stole Rs282,000, gold jewellery, two wristwatches and three mobile phones. On the complaint of the owner, the Khanpur police registered an FIR against the unidentified thieves but were unable to find them.

Dissatisfied with police performance, the complainant showed complete lack of confidence in the investigation system and decided to take the matter into his own hands.

Munawar took two sniffer dogs and began investigation. Since the dogs entered the house of Abdul Jabbar and Abdul Sattar, sons of Muhammad Yusuf, the shopkeeper said it was adequate evidence that they were the robbers.

Moreover, since the brothers had been accused of several thefts in the past, Munawar and his relatives forcibly dragged them out of their house on Tuesday afternoon and punished them.

The villagers first shaved parts of their heads, blackened their faces and then paraded them half naked mounted on a camel. They also thrashed them with shoes and sticks and, after humiliating and injuring them, handed them over to the Khanpur police.

When contacted, the Khanpur police confirmed Abdul Jabbar and Abdul Sattar had been arrested on suspicion of robbing Munawar’s house but denied the fact that they had been paraded half naked on a camel by villagers.  The police added both brothers were notorious thieves and were also allegedly involved in stealing cash from the village mosque in the recent past.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2016.