TOBA TEK SINGH: Scores of residents of Chak 296-JB on Thursday staged a sit-in at Gojra’s Kutchery Chowk and burnt tyres to protest alleged release of a dacoity suspect in police custody by some lawyers.

Complainant Ihsan Ali told reporters that on Jan 19 six dacoits barged into his house, subjected women of the family to severe torture and took away Rs1.1 million cash, along with gold ornaments worth Rs1.5 million.

He said Gojra police arrested five of the suspects -- Shahzad, Haider, Usman, Abid and Asad -- but the main accused, Husnain, son of a local lawyer, obtained bail before arrest from a court.

He said police recovered a small part of the booty from the arrested suspects but Rs0.8 million and ornaments worth Rs1.5 million were yet to be recovered from Husnain. As a Gojra court refused to confirm Husnain’s bail before arrest, the police arrested the suspect, but some lawyers freed him from police custody forcibly, he added.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf local leaders Osama Hamza and ex-tehsil nazim Asad Zaman Cheema reached Kutchery Chowk to express solidarity with the protesters.They demanded immediate arrest of the prime suspect.

On the other side, Gojra bar president Riaz Baryar and secretary general Toqeer Ashraf claimed that police had arrested Husnain when the court reserved the decision and had not announced it yet.

They alleged that the policemen “insulted” the lawyers and scuffled with them. They announced lawyers would observe a strike on Friday in protest against what they called police excess.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Atif Imran Qureshi said no pressure would be acceptable in this regard and the suspect would be arrested at all cost because his bail confirmation plea had been denied by the court.

Published in Dawn March 6th, 2015

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