BADIN: A police team headed by the SHO of Model police station on Tuesday booked and arrested a reporter of a private TV channel accusing him of being a paedophile on Tuesday. The journalist community of Badin condemned the action as “a revengeful act”.

SHO Mohammad Qasim Panhwar told reporters that the suspect was arrested on a complaint of sexual assault on a schoolboy. The complaint was lodged by the elder brother of the alleged victim.

An FIR was registered against the suspect for luring the boy to a desolate place near railway tracks in Badin on Monday and subjecting him to criminal assault after drugging him.

The complainant claimed that the suspect was also involved in abusing other boys living in Abid Town and other adjacent localities. The police have made a request to the Badin Civil Hospital for a medical check-up of the alleged victim. The journalist community of Badin has condemned the police action and described the allegation as a concocted story. Badin Press Club president Tanweer Ahmed Arain, said in a statement that the reporter was framed in the case to teach him a lesson for his report, aired by the channel a few days back, about physical torture on him by a Pakistan Peoples Party leader at the City police station.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2018