ISLAMABAD: A man was attempting to kill himself by jumping down from an electricity pole here on Wednesday but police and rescue workers managed to bring him down.

According to the police, the man was spotted climbing an electricity pole near Blue Area. Suspecting that he was going to jump, passersby informed the police and rescue workers who reached the spot and talked to the man.

During negotiations, it was revealed that his children were abducted by the owner of brick-kiln last year and the accused was released by the high court on bail. The police quoted the man as saying “Neither the police nor the courts have helped me recover my children”.

“I tried to meet parliamentarians, including the prime minister but this remained unsuccessful. I decided to commit suicide to protest this injustice,” he had said.

However, rescue workers and the police managed to convince him to come down and he was shifted to the police station for further legal action. At the police station, the man was interrogated and he told the police that he worked at a brick-kiln in Gujar Khan along with his wife and children.

In 2014, the owner of the brick-kiln abducted his children over a money dispute and he registered a complaint with the Gujar Khan police. His children were released when the case was in district and session courts Rawalpindi, where they were produced by the police.

While returning to Gujar Khan from Rawalpindi, his children were abducted once again from the suburbs of Gujar Khan. He told the police that he registered another case against his former employer.

Recently, he said, the accused was released on bail from the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench and the whereabouts of his children are still unknown.

“The police failed to help my children and so did the judiciary. As a result, the accused got bail,” the police quoted him as saying. After interrogaton, the Kohsar police decided to not initiate any legal action against him, including registration of a case, the police said.

Later, Station House Officer of Gujar Khan Qasim Shaikh was approached and the man’s details were received, the police said. He was taken to SSP Operations Rawalpindi Malik Karamat by two policemen who requested him to help the man and provide him justice.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2015

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