Law and order: Villagers hand over ‘robbers’ on assurance of prosecution

Villagers had refused to let police take away two men accused of robbery.

SARGODHA:

A police team on Monday remained stranded for five hours in a Sargodha village, where it had gone to arrest two robbery suspects.

Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Nasir Qureshi finally persuaded the villagers to hand over the suspects, assuring them of appropriate action. He also announced promotion for an Elite Force official, who was among the villagers who caught two of the three men after a robbery in Chak 101 North.

Earlier, dozens of villagers gathered at the scene on hearing about the incident and blocked the road out of the village.

They refused to hand over the suspects, who identified themselves as Asif and Ishtiaq, to the police team headed by Saddar deputy superintendent of police Ahsan Chohan. They said they would let the police take the suspects only if a senior officer assured them of action in the matter. Otherwise, they said, they would punish the suspects on their own. The SP (Headquarters) came after over five hours.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Lumberdar Muhammad Sharif said the villagers had been let down by Saddar police twice in the past. “We had caught robbers and handed them over to the police, but no action was taken against them,” he said. He said from now onwards there would be no compromise until senior policemen themselves come to the village and assure them of  action against robbers.

The three suspects had allegedly taken away Rs40,000, cell phones and a motorcycle from Ghulam Muhammad and Sajjad Ahmed. One of the suspects fled with the motorcycle and the other two were caught.

Saddar police said they would track down the third suspect. They said teams had been formed for the purpose.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2012.