Constables or crooks?: Police accused of robbing Bahawalpur citizens

‘Policemen broke into the houses and took away cash, valuables’ .

BAHAWALPUR: Scores of residents of Abbasia Town protested on Wednesday accusing policemen of breaking into their houses and taking away cash and gold jewellery.

The protesters gathered in front of the city police station and chanted slogans against the police. They said they feared the police more than other criminals.

Chaudhry Shaukat Ali Jutt, one of the protesters, said that Constables Tehseen and Safdar had broken into his house on Monday night while he was out of the city. He said the two constables had known that he would be visiting some relatives.

He said they entered his house at 2am by scaling a wall. He said his wife and his 13-year-old son were home.

He said the constables misbehaved with his wife and slapped his son for crying on seeing them. He said they took away Rs200,000, 20 grams gold jewellery, a cheque book, his national identity card and a cell phone.

He said when he returned next morning, his wife told him about it. He said he visited the police station, but no one listened to him. He said instead they threatened with arrest in a false case.



He said the next day, he learnt that the two constables had broken into another house in the neighbourhood.

Zafar Hussain, owner of the house in Firdous Colony near Bindra Puli, said the two constables had broken into his house along with some Cantonment police officials.

He said the policemen had knocked at the door at 1am. When he went to see who it was, he said, they caught him and beat him up.

They then went into the house and took away Rs128,000 and 25 grams gold jewellery. They then scaled a wall of the adjacent house and took Rs10,000, 12.5 grams gold jewellery and a motorcycle. They also beat up the inmates for resisting them.

The protesters said the policemen also arrested a man, Allah Rakha, from the neighbourhood on the false charge of a robbery.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Cantt Station House Office Irfan Akbar said he was not aware of the complaint.

He said Allah Rakha was arrested for possession of 25kg hemp recovered from him during routine checking at a picket.

He said he would look into the allegations, but was pretty sure that none of the policemen had broken into any houses.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2013.