KASUR: A prayer leader accused of attempting to rape a child went ‘missing’ after an angry mob allegedly tortured him at Garaywala village some three days back.

Mandi Usmanwala police, earlier, remained silent but started investigations when a rumour spread that the suspect had succumbed to injuries caused by torture.

Local police, however, took into custody child’s father ‘I’ after the rumour.

The child’s father is a lumberdar and head of the mosque committee that appointed the prayer leader some four months back.

After the lumberdar was taken into custody, hundreds of villagers besieged the police station and demanded his release. Police after negotiations released him on the assurance of village elders that he would be available for investigation purpose.

Later, police registered a criminal case against prayer leader ‘Z’ of Bahawalnagar district on the complaint of the lumberdar. According to FIR lodged under sections 377 and 511 of PPC, the prayer leader allegedly attempted to rape 10-year-old son of the complainant in the village mosque.

Another boy in the mosque raised an alarm and villagers rushed to the spot and overpowered the suspect. According to police, the villagers tortured the private parts of the suspect, injuring him severely.

The incident took place on May 31 while the case was registered on June 3. The delay has been ‘justified’ in the FIR which reads: “The suspect is a teacher. He imparts religious education to the village children. For that reason, I remained silent and did not inform police.”

Meanwhile, three more victims appeared after police started investigations as parents kept mum for the sake of their honour.

SHO Jamal Naseer Khan told Dawn that no one informed the police about the incident, including attempted rape and torture of the prayer leader. He said police intervened as it learnt about rumour.

When asked about the legal action taken against the villagers who took law into their hands and tortured the suspect, he said there was no complainant and police also needed medical report of the prayer leader [for legal action].

He, however, lamented that the village mosque committee had no record of the prayer leader except that he hailed from Bahawalnagar district. He said the cell number of the suspect was switched off. The SHO claimed that efforts were under way to trace out the missing prayer leader.

Local human rights activists are of the view that there should be some mechanism to inform the respective police when the mosque committee appoints a prayer leader.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2020