Police accused of taking away cattle

BAHAWALPUR:

A woman has accused the Sadiqabad Saddar police of taking away cattle when they raided the place ostensibly to arrest some robbers.

The woman said she had submitted several applications at the police station and complained to the district police officer, but her cattle had not been returned.

Sohni Mai, a widow from Chak 134-P, said that three robbers, who she said were residents of the same village, had entered her house on April 10. She said she had informed the Sadiqabad Saddar police. She said they arrested one of the robbers, while the other two fled.

She said a few days later she discovered that the two robbers had flown to Saudi Arabia. She said she went to the police station to agitate the matter but the station house officer refused to register her complaint. A few hours later that day, she said, a police team visited her house and took away her cattle which, she said, cost more than Rs500,000.

She said she begged them to leave her cattle, but they did not. Her son tried to stop them and was beaten up and threatened with a false case. She said she had filed several complaints at the DPO’s office, but there had been no response.

SHO Rana Safdar denied the allegations. He said they had arrested one of the robbers, who had been sent to the district jail.

He said police were investigating the claim that the rest of the two men had left the country. He said no policemen had taken the complainant’s cattle away.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2013.