Police to scrutinise sit-ups video

Police officials claim mala fide intentions behind ‘staged’ video

LAHORE:

As the country ushered into 2021, a video of a sibling duo performing repentant sit-ups in front of a police mobile van near the Ghalib Market police checkpoint went viral on social media.

The video shows masked brother and sister, a feet apart, embarrassingly performing sit-ups before a camera recording their misery. The incident sparked outrage on social media when the masked woman revealed her identity as the man’s sister who claimed she was frisked by Rana Jamshed, a police officer, inside the Ghalib Market police station. The siblings asserted that they were stopped when they were heading home from work, taken to the police station, frisked and physically assaulted upon failing to produce their id. In her statement to the media, the woman complained that the cops let them go when they found nothing suspicious on them but soon stopped them again to record the sit ups before a police vehicle. The brother of the woman said they could not protest as they are poor.

On the other hand, police claims the video was staged to put the city’s police in bad light and the duo in the viral video were neither siblings nor returning from work. Police said the two suspects were held following a raid at a sealed guest house- a den of immoral activities- and the duo intentionally recorded the footage to throw shade at the police raid. When DSP Gulberg Shehzad Rafique was approached by The Express Tribune, he said, “This is a selfmade video recorded in front of a police vehicle in a parking lot to defame the cops.” “The Safe City Authority would take out footage of the incident to uncover the facts and legal action would be taken against those responsible for the incident,” he maintained. Meanwhile, several lapses in the ‘foolproof security plan of Lahore Police’ were observed on New Year’s Eve. Despite tall claims of successful execution of security plan, several incidents of aerial firing, firework display and hooliganism were reported across the provincial capital on the final night of the year.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, DIG Operations Ashfaq Khan pointed out that seven people were killed and several others were injured in a firing incident that occurred last year before his deployment, therefore he focused on stopping aerial firing to save lives. Adopting a new strategy this year, Lahore Police directed the Dolphin Squad and Police Response Unit to patrol city streets instead of the main thoroughfares. Sources said, SSP Operations Ahsan Saif and SP Dolphin Rashid Hayat were tasked to stop aerial firing incidents. SSP Operations Ahsan Saif told The Express Tribune that the city was secured through several checkpoints from 8pm onwards on the night before New Year. He said Dolphin Force and Police Response Unit promptly responded to incidents of aerial firing and apprehended 34 suspects from Gawalmandi, Green Town, Lorry Ada, Lohari Gate, Mochi Darwaza, Islampura, Nawab Town, Sabzazar, Johar Town, Iqbal Town, Samanabad, Gulshan Ravi, Liaqatabad, Sanda and other areas.

“32 cases were registered and the cops confiscated 28 pistols, two automatic guns, two rifles and hundreds of bullets from the suspects,” he added. With regard to firework display, SP Dolphin Rashid Hayat said that the force arrested 30 suspects and registered 20 cases. “Lohari police and Shadbagh police also seized two vehicles loaded with firework materials during the search operations,” Hayat asserted. DIG Operations Ashfaq Khan also detailed that in the recent years, police compiled comprehensive lists of wanted persons in drug trafficking cases and a sudden crackdown against the mafia achieved remarkable success during which 28 persons were held.