THATTA: After a day-long noisy protest in Gharo town and a sit-in at the nearby section of the National Highway against alleged custodial death of a labourer, the SHO concerned and his three subordinates were booked and suspended on Tuesday evening.

A landlord and a private person have also been named in the FIR lodged by the bereaved family for their involvement in the episode.

The labourer, Ramzan Samoon, was picked up by a police team and taken to the Gharo police station for interrogation in the early hours of Monday after the landlord, Sohail Arain, lodged a complaint pertaining to theft on his farms.

The deceased labourer’s brother, Urs Samoon, told local reporters that Ramzan was kept in custody for many hours. He alleged that his brother was subjected to brutal torture at the police station by SHO Yaqoob Bhatti and three other policemen at the behest of the landlord and a private person.

He claimed that the policemen brought Ramzan to Gharo’s rural health centre in a precarious condition and they drove away after leaving him in the compound of the health facility, where the administration immediately referred him to Karachi’s Civil Hospital due to the grave injuries he had sustained “due to torture at the police station”. However, he added, Ramzan succumbed to the injuries while he was being transported to the civil hospital. He demanded registration of a murder FIR against the police team and others involved in the whole episode.

A number of people from different walks of life took to the streets late Monday evening joined in the protest by the bereaved family to demand immediate arrest of all those responsible for the labourer’s death. Thatta SSP Shabbir Sethar assured the family that culprits would be arrested without a few hours. On his assurance the protesters dispersed and took away the body for burial.

However, on Tuesday, several hundred protesters accompanied by members of the bereaved family proceeded to the nearby section of the National Highway along with the body and held a sit-in in the middle of the road at around 11am and continued the protest till late in the evening.

The vehicular traffic on both sides of the highway remained suspended during the course of the sit-in.

Rejecting the police version that Ramzan died due to high blood pressure and that he was not tortured in custody, his parents and other protesters demanded setting up of a medical board, a transparent post-mortem examination and suspension of the SHO and his three subordinates and arrest of all those named in the FIR lodged by Urs Samoon.

During negotiations with the area police and later with Thatta SSP Shabbir Sethar, who travelled to the venue of the sit-in to persuade people to clear the highway, the protesters refused to disperse until their demands were met.

Local leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM), Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party, Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT) and fishermen community’s organisations Amirul Bahar Tanzeem and Sindh Mallah Tanzeem spoke to the media and senior police officials.

Urs Samoon, in the meantime, approached Adviser to the Chief Minister Syed Aijaz Ali Shah Sheerazi, on whose intervention the area police agreed to register his [Urs Samoon’s] FIR. However, the complainant appeared not satisfied with the contents of the FIR and insisted inclusion of the relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against the policemen and other suspects.

He also demanded immediate arrest of all the suspects.

A strong contingent of police headed by DSP headquarters Syed Iftikhar Shah, DSP Juma Khan, DSP Niaz Khajar and CIA SP Saeed Ahmed Rind surrounded the protesters and kept their force on alert to meet any eventuality.

Finally, Thatta Deputy Commissioner Usman Tanveer along with the senior police officers held negotiations with the protesters and announced that a medical board would be constituted to establish cause of Ramzan Samoon’s death, a post-mortem examination would be performed and those responsible for his death would be taken to task. He also announced suspension of the policemen named in the FIR and setting up of a departmental inquiry against them.

After the announcement, the protesters dispersed peacefully and the bereaved family took away the body for burial.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2020