Law-abiding?: Policemen accused of taking Rs0.8m ransom

Petitioner seeks action against 15 policemen including an ASI .

LAHORE:

An additional district and sessions judge on Monday heard a petition seeking action against 15 policemen accused of taking Rs800,000 to release five suspects. The court sought comments from the Badami Bagh police SHO.

Najma Bibi claimed that ASI Muhammad Shakel Butt and 14 other policemen raided her house on June 5. They arrested five people, including her husband Muhammad Ishaq.

She said the policemen did not tell the family why they were arresting the five. “Policemen demanded Rs2 million to release them. They threatened to kill the arrested men in a fake encounter if we did not accept their demand,” the petitioner said. She said they could not arrange for such a huge amount but the policemen threatened to implicate the arrested men in false cases. “We collected Rs800,000 and gave the amount to Shakeel Butt. He then released the arrested men,” she said.

The petitioner told the court that she had gone to the Badami Bagh SHO, but he did not help her. “The SHO is trying to protect his fellow policemen,” she said.

She appealed to the court to direct the SHO to register a case against the 15 policemen.

After hearing the arguments, the court ordered the Badami Bagh SHO to submit his reply over the petition by July 8.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2014.