Three cops suspended for beating, detaining civilians

The policemenwere confined in an empty building where they were keeping one of the residents, Abrar.

FAISALABAD: Three Flying Squad policemen were suspended Wednesday night after they were held by New Latifabad Colony residents for breaking into a house, beating up the residents and illegally detaining one of them.

The policemen – Arsalan, Waseem and Usman – were confined in an empty building where they were keeping one of the residents, Abrar.

The watchman at the building, stationed to guard a private telecommunications company tower, was sent by them to inform Kaneez Mai, Abrar’s mother, that her son would be released if she paid Rs2,000.

Mai, a widow who resided in the house with her two sons, told The Express Tribune that the policemen told her that they were taking Abrar to the police station.

She said she was saying her prayers when the three broke into her house in New Latifabad Colony in the Cha Jambowala area. They seized Rs12,000, she said, and beat up her sons, Abrar and Jabbar, for resisting. Mai said on identifying the watchman she knew her son had not been taken to the police station.

She started shouting for help and attracted the attention of a few dozen men from the neighbourhood who rushed towards the building and surrounded it from all sides.

The three officials were taken into custody and handed over to the Saddar police. The watchman, however, escaped.

The Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations), Malik Muhammad Yousaf, and SP (Investigations) Saddar, Karamat Malik, then reached the spot. The SSP Operations suspended the three policemen and formed an inquiry team to probe the incident. The SP Saddar was appointed as the head of the inquiry team. Talking to The Express Tribune, Karamat Malik said on Thursday that a case would be registered against the three under Section 155 of the Police Order of 2002. The section deals with cases of abuse of authority.The three policemen said that they had been receiving reports that the two brothers were running a gambling den at their billiard club and that was why they raided the house.

Flying Squad officials are only authorised to guard security check posts and cannot initiate police action on their own, let alone raid a private place.

The three were part of the Grass Mandi Flying Squad and had been stationed at Silver Sand Hotel checkpost near Railway Station – some 12 km from the house they raided. The Saddar police officials suspect that the watchman was working for the three and may have tipped them off.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2010.