Illegal detention: ‘Police took bribe to free me'

Petitioner submitted that SHO Shaikh Amir Saleem and Constables thrashed them and dragged them into their pick-up.

LAHORE: An additional district and sessions judge has sought comments from the Gulberg SHO on a petition seeking a case against an SHO and three Gulberg police constables for alleged extortion. Petitioner Ghulam Mustafa submitted that on August 3, he and his friends were eating sehri at a restaurant when SHO Shaikh Amir Saleem and Constables Zulfiqar, Mansha and Asim barged in, thrashed them and dragged them into their pick-up. He said that the SHO accused him and his friends of being drunk, when they had never had any alcohol in their entire lives. At the police station, he said, the SHO demanded a Rs10,000 bribe. Mustafa said he and his friends were detained for a day and the police officials threatened to implicate them in forged cases if they were not paid. He said they paid the bribe and were released. He asked the court to direct senior police officials to register a case against the SHO and constables for bribery, threats and illegal detention.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2013.