Police brutality: SHO suspended for denying arrest

Sajid Farooq is said to have tortured the accused before he denied the detention in court.

ABBOTABAD: Hazara DIG Akhtar Hayat Gandapur has suspended Mansehra SHO Sajid Farooq for detaining a man and torturing him for three days in an allegedly bogus case, said official sources on Saturday. The report of the officer’s suspension has been confirmed by City police station Additional SHO Khushal Khan. 

Awais Ali, 23, a resident of Mohalla Dhangi, was arrested on December 31, 2014 for his alleged involvement in firing at constable Arif, who was on rider’s duty on the evening of December 30, 2014. When Abdul Rasheed, father of the accused, approached the SHO for the bail of his son, the SHO denied detaining Ali.

Rasheed took the case to court, but, according to family sources, the SHO denied the detention in court. After hearing the statement of the SHO, 69-year-old Rasheed died of a heart attack on January 5. His relatives protested in the middle of Karakoram Highway by placing his body there. The protesters held the SHO responsible for Rasheed’s death and accused him of illegally detaining and torturing Ali. The SHO responded by registering criminal cases against 50 protesters out of whom eight were arrested.

The police later showed that Ali had been arrested and a five-day physical remand for interrogation had been obtained.

Prayer leaders condemned the illegal detention and proceedings against the protesters. They have demanded action be taken against the SHO.

On receiving the complaint from family members of Ali, IGP Nasir Khan Durrani referred the case to the DIG who suspended the SHO and ordered an investigation into the allegations against him.

The SHO faced similar charges twice in the past during his postings as an assistant sub-inspector and later as an SHO for City police station Haripur. Civil society organisations had protested then and demanded a criminal case be registered against him, said police sources.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2015.