Boy tortured to death by ‘faith healer’
Police claimed to have arrested a fake faith healer for killing a 12-year-old boy after physically torturing him in the Darbar Peer Fateh Shah area of Drahma.
District Police Officer (DPO) Akhtar Farooq took notice of the incident and met the victim’s family during a visit to the area. The 12-year-old Muhammad Akash alias Kashif, a resident of Siddique Abad Colony was reportedly tortured to death by a fake faith healer Ijaz Hussain Khalifa under the pretext of exorcism.
Taking notice of the incident, DPO Farooq reached the spot to supervise the investigation. He directed the officials concerned to take strict action against the accused. A police crime scene unit has also reached the spot and collected evidence. According to the family members of the child identified as Khalid Hussain, Ijaz, Waqas, Talib Hussain, Muhammad Naveed, Irshad Hussain, Mathu Khan and others, the fake faith healer Khalifa had brutally tortured Kashif to death.
They stated that the higher authorities should ensure strict punishment to the accused. Meanwhile, according to a police spokesman, the police arrived on time and arrested the accused Khalifa, while the body of Kashif was sent for autopsy. Earlier, Regional Police Officer Muhammad Faisal Rana had ordered arrest of the suspect at the earliest.
Juvenile murder suspects accuse police of torture
He also ordered take stern action against the accused who tortured innocent people on the pretext of treating them in the four districts of the region.
“Anyone who tortures people in the name of treatment or exorcism will be punished according to the law,” he said while giving instructions to all four DPOs of the region. Sources revealed that when RPO Rana was informed that a minor boy was killed by a fake faith healer he immediately sought a report from the DPO.
The RPO immediately ordered the arrest of the accused on which the police arrested the accused faith healer Khalifa after a case was registered against him.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 18th, 2020.