‘Robber’ beaten up by citizens

Doctors say he might lose vision in one eye.

DERA GHAZI KHAN:

Several residents of Samina Area in Darahma police area caught a man suspected of robbery on Monday and beat him till he fainted.

The robber was finally rescued by the police and taken to a hospital, where doctors treating him said he may have lost vision in one eye.

Police have registered a torture case against the man whose house the ‘robber’ was thought to have been fleeing. They have also registered a case against the ‘robber’.

Darahma police said Abdur Rashid, entered the house of Ilahi Bakhsh Gurmani in Samina area.

They said one of the family members saw him and raised alarm. Rashid tried to flee, but on the way out, he was caught by some neighbours, who beat him. The noise attracted more neighbours, who also joined them in the beating.

Witnesses said some of the people used clubs and sticks to beat the ‘robber’. Some one called the police, who rescued the robber and took him in their custody.

“By the time the police arrived, the robber had fainted,” a witness told The Express Tribune.

He was taken to district headquarters hospital, where doctors treating him said that one of his eyes was badly injured, in addition to cuts all over the body from the beating.

They said he might be lose vision in one eye.

The man was in intensive care at the hospital in police custody.

Following the incident, some residents of the area later protested against the police for its failure to curb crime.

They said several robberies incidents had taken place in the area in the last few months, but the police had not arrested a single suspect.

They alleged that in most cases the police officials facilitated the robberies. They said it was one reason the police had not arrested the culprits despite lapse of several months. They later dispersed in about an hour.

Darahma police told The Tribune that Abdur Rashid was a proclaimed offender in one of the four cases traced against him at various police stations.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2012.