Lockup brawl: Four prisoners and a constable injured

LAHORE:

Four prisoners and a constable were injured in a two-hour melee between rival gangs at the judicial lockup in the Model Town courts on Wednesday.

The fighting began soon after two sets of under-trial prisoners were brought to the courts for hearings of their cases, said witnesses. Police said the prisoners belonged to the “Burger Group” and the “Sheikh Group”.

The rival gangs attacked each other with knives and paper-cutters while other prisoners took shelter in the bathroom. Witnesses said the guards at the lockup appeared reluctant to break up the fight and instead barked directions at the prisoners to stop fighting.

Constable Umar Daraz was later nominated to go inside to try and stop the fighting. He first refused to enter, said the sources, but was pressed upon to do so. Daraz suffered a gash on his right thigh soon after he went in. Two policemen in plainclothes were sent in to recover Daraz. They managed to do so, though their clothes were torn.

Prisoners Mudassar Saeed, Naveed Nazar, Sarfraz Nawaz and Emanuel Khushi of the Shaikh Group suffered cuts. Irfan Rafique, Asad Tariq and Taimur Tariq of the Burger Group were also involved in the fight.

Eventually, DSP (Judicial) Shaheen Qazi arrived at the scene and ordered a large number of police officials to go inside. They broke up the fight. Two of the prisoners were later taken to their jail hospital.

The Express Tribune tried to contact DSP Qazi, but received no response to calls and text messages.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2012.