11 booked for ‘torturing, filming’ youth
At least 11 people are booked for torturing a young man who was going to buy grocery and sharing a video of the incident on social media.
Police registered a case against the suspects under various legal provisions.
According to the police report, Wajid Ali, a resident of Farid Chowk area of Gulberg, filed a case stating that his 16-year-old son Abu Zar was going to buy grocery and cigarettes when the suspects Faisal and others kidnapped him on motorcycles, took him to an unknown place and tortured him.
“They also made a video of the incident and later made it viral. Then my son was handed over to one Owais Akram,” he added.
Gulberg police registered a case under Sections 365, 440, 148and 149 of Pakistan Penal Code and started searching for the suspects.
Earlier this year in April, police registered a case against seven butchers on charges of torturing and recording a video of a differently-abled youth and making it viral on social media.
Police said the suspects including Abu Bakar, Abu Sufiyan, Sher alias Sheera, Allahyar and others had butcher shops in Mohalla Rasoolpura, Tandlianwala where they tortured the 17-year-old differently-abled Mohsin Raza alias Toti Malang. They tied his hands and feet to a pole on suspicion of theft, while they tortured him and made a video that went viral on social media.
The complainant sated, “I had sent my mentally challenged brother Mohsin to get yoghurt at the time of Sehri when they allegedly molested my brother, upon which my brother hurled abuses at them and escaped. After this the suspects tied him to a power pole and tortured him.
The victim's brother Imran Raza Hashmi said the suspects nominated by him in the complaint had attacked and vandalised his house and threatened to kill him if he did not withdraw the case.
After the video of the torture went viral on social media, the police registered a case against the suspects under different section of PPC including 147 (Punishment for rioting), 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 342 (Punishment for wrongful confinement) and 355 (Assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour person).
In another incident reported last month, a labourer was allegedly abducted and tortured in the Mahiwala area of Mankira tehsil.
Reportedly, the incident took place on the outskirts of Bhakkar.
Five suspects abducted the youth and beat him with sticks. They also allegedly forced him to drink urine and humiliated him.
Police registered a case and arrested the suspects. They included Mukhtiar, Taj and Ramzan along with two unidentified persons. The labourer Naeemullah was taken to a local forest and subjected to torture.
The incident was also filmed by the suspects and uploaded on social media platforms.
Circle DSP Muhammad Hayat Sargana registered a case at Mankira police station on the complaint of the father of the victim.
The DPO told The Express Tribune that the suspects claimed to have beaten the labourer for having a relationship with a girl.
After kidnapping, Naeem was taken on a motorcycle to the nearby forest where other suspects were already present. The suspects started beating the youth with sticks. Reportedly, one of the suspects held the labourer at gunpoint. He was then humiliated.
The DPO said he had two teams after registration of the case. “They were tasked with arresting the perpetrators within 24 hours. Mankira police arrested the three suspects named in the case, including the main suspect and two accomplices, from their hideout within a few hours and locked them in Mankira police station.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2021.