RAWALPINDI: While people in the city were enjoying the Eid holidays, the family of a poor man suffered distress after the car of a police officer hit his rickshaw, sending his eight-year-old son to hospital on Friday.

Faizan Ali sustained leg fractures, cuts and bruises and is lying at the District Headquarters Hospital waiting to be operated upon.

The incident occurred in the limits of the Nasirabad police when Luqman Hussain was taking his seven family members to his mother’s house.

Luqman, 45, told Dawn that he bought the rickshaw on installments to earn livelihood for his eight children and a wife. He said he had so far paid only two installments when the police officer’s private car hit and damaged the rickshaw beyond repair.

He said he was on the right track when a 2.D car overtook the rickshaw without giving an indicator and took a turn towards a gas filling station on its left after hitting the rickshaw.

Rickshaw driver demands damage costs

He said a man, who later identified himself as a superintendent of police (SP), was sitting in the front seat of the car with two policemen on the backseat.

The rickshaw was dragged and damaged after being hit by the car. The boy’s parents, four brothers and a sister also sustained cuts and bruises.

After the accident, the occupants of the car called Rescue 1122 who shifted the injured boy to hospital.

The policemen assured Luqman that his son would be cared well and he would also be compensated for the damage to the rickshaw.

“The man sitting in the front seat in plainclothes identified himself as SP Rawal. The two gunmen in police uniform on the backseat later assured me that my son would be given free medical treatment and cared well,” Luqman told Dawn.

Since the boy was shifted to the hospital, a police guard was also deployed close to his bed apparently to prevent the injured and his parents to talk to the media or tell anyone else that the police vehicle was involved in the accident.

“On the first day, the police took care of the boy and also provided free food to his attendants in the hospital. But two days later their mood changed and they started threatening us,” Luqman added.

He said according to the doctors, Faizan had suffered a fracture on his right leg and would be operated upon as soon as a surgeon would be available.

“I was taking my son to another hospital on Sunday after seeing the attitude of the doctors but my family did now agree.”

He added: “Had my son been operated upon on time, he would have been recovering now.”

He said initially he was not worried at all but a bit surprised on seeing the policemen taking care of his son.

He had also hoped that he would be compensated for the damage to his rickshaw.

But after a sudden change in the attitude of the police officials, he was now worried that he would not get any compensation or medical aid for his son.

The injured boy was planning to go to the bazaar with his parents to buy new books as his school would be reopening on August 18 after the summer vacations.

But now the parents feared that he would miss his school.

“I even can’t lodge a complaint against the police driver and his boss,” Luqman said.

Published in Dawn, Aug 5th, 2014