BAHAWALNAGAR: A woman alleges that the Mandi Sadiq Ganj SHO is demanding Rs200,000 for the release of her husband who has been illegally detained for the last five days and tortured. Shamim Bibi, a resident of Mohallah Noori Mandi Sadiq Ganj, told Dawn that she worked as a maid at houses and her husband Muhammad Taj ran a cycle puncture shop and they had three children out of whom Imran was mentally challenged. She said they had disowned Imran because of his activities.

Shamim said that a few days ago they found out that Imran was in the custody of the Deepalpur police and an FIR was lodged against him for pickpocketing. She alleged that after the arrest of Imran, the Mandi Sadiq Ganj police picked up Taj and locked him up in a private torture cell. She claimed that she went to the police station for three days after which the SHO admitted that Taj was in their custody.

She alleged that the SHO demanded Rs200,000 for Taj’s release. The SHO, she said, claimed that the police would pay this money to the people who suspected that Imran robbed them of cash. She said despite the fact that they had disowned Imran and Taj had no criminal record, her husband was not only being illegally kept by police but was also being tortured.

Shamim claimed that the SHO arranged her meeting with her injured husband at the police station on Sunday and threatened to kill him in a police encounter if she failed to pay him. She said that when she protested, she and her family were pushed out of the police station and told to fulfill her wish of complaining to higher-ups.

Says SHO is demanding Rs200,000

The woman has appealed to the Punjab IG as well as human rights bodies to take notice of the matter.

Mandi Sadiq Ganj SHO Aamir Abbas said Taj was not involved in any crime but he was being interrogated as his son Imran had three FIRs of theft against him. He denied claims of arresting or torturing Taj.

Disputing claims of the SHO, Shamim Bibi while sharing a video of Taj in the police station lockup with Dawn, demanded his medical checkup and claimed that there were several people in the private torture cell who were severely tortured for not providing the demanded money by police.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2021