JHANG, Sept 21: The arrest and torture of a 10-year-old boy in police lockup, without being nominated in a case, has evoked sharp reaction among various non-governmental organizations fighting for the rights of children, women and basic human rights.

According to details of the incident, Qadirpur police registered a case against the father and elder brother of Tasawar Abbas (10), Pabbarwala village, for cutting grass from the farms of a landlord.

A police party led by ASI Muhammad Khan raided the house of Tasawar Abbas’s father, Pathana, a poor labourer suffering from a dangerous disease, to arrest him and his co-accused son Ramzan. But since Ramzan, who works in a Gujranwala woollen mills, was not present in his house, the raiding team caught hold of his younger brother (Tasawar Abbas). When the frightened minor raised a hue and cry, the policemen slapped him on his cheeks and kicked him on the legs and back before throwing him into the police van.

The accused were produced before Qadirpur SHO Talat Hundal who put them behind the bars.

At about midnight, the two were taken out of the lockup and taken to the interrogation room, where ASI M Khan and constable Ejaz Ahmad allegedly beat up the boy to know the whereabouts of his elder brother.

The reason for torturing the boy and not his father, as stated by a police station source on condition of anonymity, was that the father was old and sick and the police did not want to put his life at risk. Poor labourers did not have the means to arrange for a court bailiff to secure the release of the innocent child. They instead requested a local notable to persuade the police to set free the boy being kept in illegal detention, through whose efforts the boy was ultimately released.

On Thursday, a local lawyer produced the boy before human rights activists and journalists in the office of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Jhang Chapter. The boy narrated the tale of his illegal detention and torture to the audience. Later, talking to Dawn, the district coordinator of Society for the Protection and Rights of Child (SPARC), Mr Sajid Abdullah described the incident as barbaric and unimaginable in a civilized society.

Munir Ahmed Sadhana, member of the central committee of Pakistan Libral Forum, told this correspondent that the incident had plunged the entire civilized society in a state of shock and horror and had make a mockery of the much-trumpeted police reforms.

Mr Qamar Abbas Zaidi, HRCP district coordinator and Ch Khalid Pervaiz, Punjab Bar Council member, described boy’s torture as a flagrant violation of basic human rights which brings into limelight the arrogance and highhandedness of police.

A delegate of Pakistan Aurat Foundation, present on the occasion, also condemned the incident. The NGOs and human rights activists demanded a thorough probe and stern action against the perpetrators of this barbaric act.