KASUR, July 25: A large number of people, including women, brought to a halt Ferozepur Road on Wednesday to protest against the B-Division SHO for torturing to death a man a couple of days back.

Enraged demonstrators also tried to damage the vehicle of DSP Ibrar Khalil after he reached the spot, but lawyers present there intervened and refrained them from doing so.

Shopkeepers also observed a shutter down strike in protest.

Charged protesters also burnt an effigy of SHO Ehsan Elahi Khokher and also chanted slogans against him.

Later, about 800 people, led by union council nazim Muhammad Shafique, Anjuman Tajran president Kot Murak Khan, Trader Organization president Muhammad Akram Mughal, started their march from Bhasarpura and reached the DPO office.

The victim’s family demanded registration of a murder case against the SHO. They also demanded exhumation of the body and got conducted an autopsy. They said an application would also be moved to the chief justice of Pakistan’s office.

Reports said the SHO had arrested Muhammad Ghafoor on the charge of possessing 109 grams of hashish on June 25. The SHO kept the accused in custody for about a week and tortured him severely. The accused was later sent to the judicial lock-up where his condition deteriorated. He was shifted to the DHQ Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries a couple of days ago.

Victim’s brother Muhammad Arshad alleged that their rivals had bribed the SHO to implicate his brother in a false case. He further claimed that the SHO had not obtained remand from any court.

The SHO had also threatened to kill all the remaining brothers in an encounter if they tried to raise the issue. The SHO also sealed their weaving factory and demanded Rs60,000 to unseal it, he said.

SP (Investigation) Syed Ali Mohsin said that he had constituted a team to probe into the matter and submit a report to him within 24 hours.

DPO Tarique Abbas Qureshi was unavailable at his office for comment.

Trader Organization president Muhammad Akram Mughal announced that all city markets would remain closed on Thursday (today) if justice was not provided to the victim’s family.

Among dozens of SHO’s victims who participated in the demonstration also narrated their tales.

Ghulam Mustafa, who runs a `Paan shop’, alleged that the SHO had kept him in illegal custody for two days. During detention, he said, the SHO tortured him, tried to implicate him in a dacoity case and forced him to give a statement that the UC-7 nazim patronized a gang of dacoits.

Aziz Begum, the UC-4 councillor, claimed that the SHO had raided her house to arrest her son Haider Ali in a false case of gambling. In his absence, she said, the SHO picked up a guest and thrashed her daughter and daughters-in-law. The SHO also tortured her guest at the police station, she alleged.