Murder?: Mosque guard arrested for ‘killing child’

Suspect denies charge, says he was away when the incident took place.

FAISALABAD:

Satiana police have arrested a security guard of a mosque following an FIR accusing him of killing a child and injuring brother on Thursday night.

The police have also seized the weapon, a single barrel 0.12-bore gun, from the suspect.

The FIR registered on the complaint of Attiq Ullah accused the guard, Muhammad Anwar, of shooting his sons Abdul Aleem, 11, and Abdul Hameed, 12, during a trip to the mosque in Chak 36-GB on Thursday night.

The complainant said the children had gone to the mosque to deliver dinner to their grandfather, Muhammad Nawaz, who was in aitekaf.

He said Aleem had died of the bullet wound on their way to a hospital. The other child was discharged from the hospital after receiving first aid for his injuries.

The complainant refused to let the media speak to the child about Thursday’s incident.

SHO Malik Jahangir said the suspect had denied the charge.

He quoted the guard as saying that he had left his seat to go to the toilet when the incident took place. “He said he had left his gun at the seat,” the SHO said.

SP (Jaranwala) Nasir Sial said the body of the child had been sent for an autopsy. He said the police were not ruling out the possibility that the killing was accidental. “There is a possibility that the children started playing with the gun while the guard was away,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2012.