Police high-handedness: JUI-F leader roughed up in Swabi district

PESHAWAR:

A Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader was beaten and tortured at a police check post in Swabi district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Friday when he went to reclaim money that he had deposited there as a guarantee.

Sources told Daily Express the JUI-F leader Hidayatullah Khan was beaten with rifle butts by police at the check post in Narangi Union Council.

Hidayatullah had deposited Rs70,000 with the police to secure the release of a person who had been accused of stealing things worth Rs100,000 from his cousin’s house. It had been agreed upon that the police would return the money if the said items were recovered from someone else.

As the condition was fulfilled and the items were recovered, the JUI-F leader went to the check post to reclaim his amount. However, the police personnel on duty head constable Jahangir and other policeman subjected him to violent torture, which resulted in inner injuries and Hidayatullah lost consciousness.



The police took him first to a private clinic and then dropped him off at his residence instead of shifting him to Lady Reading Hospital. Following the incident, the people of the areas staged a protest in front of the check post and demanded that immediate action be taken against the culprits.

The JUI-F local leadership also held an emergency meeting in which they condemned the incident and demanded that the prime minister, K-P chief minister and chief justice take notice of the incident and ensure that the culprits were apprehended and punished.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2014.