Police have arrested a man allegedly involved in recording a video clip while torturing and humiliating a labour contractor.
The contractor stated that the accused had punished him for protecting a woman labourer from the suspect’s sexual advances.
The complainant alleged that he had been tortured for not helping the accused and his accomplices in harassing the woman. Reportedly, they rubbed filth on his face after stripping him naked, threatened him and forced him to give a video statement dictated by the suspects, he stated. He added that the accused had also snatched money from him.
Police registered a case and arrested the main accused nominated by the complainant. The district police officer Okara formed a team to arrest the other accuse and appointed a DSP as the focal person for the case.
Nadeem Ahmed, son of Abdul Rashid, a resident of village 38GD, said he was returning after leaving labourers in Chak 35GD when the accused Noor Ahmad, Azhar, Liaqat Ali, Mohammad Afzal, Babar, Pervez Ataur Rehman, Waheed and four other unidentified persons stopped him at gunpoint and started torturing him and making his videos. He said the accused rubbed filth on his face and body after stripping. He said the accused wanted him to help them to establish relations with a woman named Kauser Parveen who was his labourer.
The complainant said the accused also forced him to make a statement of their liking and recorded it after threatening him. They also snatched Rs83,000 from him, he added.
He said the woman had insulted the main accused, Liaqat Ali, in a panchayat. Nadeem alleged that the accused were pressuring him to help avenge their insult in the village council.
Upon receiving the report of the incident, a case was immediately registered on the orders of DPO Omar Saeed Malik and the main accused Liaqat was arrested. The DPO formed a special team headed by the SHO of Gogera police station to arrest the other accused, while DSP Sadar Zafar Dogar was appointed focal person for the case.
In a similar incident in Okara last month, police arrested a man on the charge of torturing his mentally challenged brother and pushing him into a canal to record a TikTok video.
Reportedly, Farhat Abbas, son of Muhammad Hanif, resident of Sher Nagar, along with his friend Ali Hassan, son of Allah Ditta, resident of Kot Abdul Razzaq and others brutally tortured his younger brother Jugnu alias Jugni, who is mentally challenged. They tied him with a rope to a motorcycle to frighten him and made a TikTok video while pushing him into the canal several times.
The Okara DPO took notice of the incident when its footage came to light. The police and district administration arrested the main accused and registered a case. The accused Abbas claimed that his brother was mentally challenged and he entered the houses of other villagers. He further claimed that after receiving daily complaints against his brother, he had tried to scare him.
However, some people said the accused were making videos for getting publicity and more likes on social media.
Human rights activists also condemned the incident and called for the perpetrators to be punished.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2020.
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