NAROWAL: A resident of a village near Sialkot accuses police of highhandedness, saying the law enforcers put him behind the bars instead of providing him justice in a land grab case.

Laiq Ahmed, a resident of Habibpura Nahar village on the outskirts of Sialkot, said he had gone to the Sialkot police station on April 5 with an application against illegal occupants of a plot. He said Saddar police SHO Iqbal Khan asked him to submit the application to Muharrar Naseer who, however, refused to accept it.

“Meanwhile, a man who introduced himself as Imran at the police station got the application and took me to a room where he took a picture of the application and asked the patrol police personnel to bring the land occupants to the police station immediately,” said Ahmed.

“Imran forbade the people from occupying my plot and called me out of the room and demanded Rs50,000. I refused to pay the amount and complained to the SHO who, instead of listening to my grievance, put me behind the bars,” he alleged. He also accused police of depriving him of a gold ring, mobile phone and Rs12,500.

He said the SHO released him when his friend raised hue and cry. “When I asked police to return my money, gold ring and mobile phone, they threatened to wrongly implicate me in a drug recovery case,” he said.

Ahmed said he subsequently complained to Sialkot District Police Officer Muhammad Hassan Iqbal who sought a report from Security Branch in-charge Sub-Inspector Abdul Rehman. The SI, complainant said, called him to his office at the DPO complex where the SHO and the Muharrar did not come but Imran joined the inquiry.

“The security branch in-charge urged me to withdraw the application instead of inquiring into it,” he said.

“I went to seek justice but the security branch in-charge locked me and Imran up in the Civil Lines police station under section 7/51,” he said.

SHO Iqbal Khan said Laiq Ahmed was like his younger brother and no such incident had taken place.

Abdul Rehman told Dawn that he had lawfully taken action as the complainant could not prove his allegation. He said Imran was not an employee of the police but an ordinary citizen.

Spokesman Khurram Shehzad said the DPO had sought a report on the incident.

Laiq Ahmed alleged that Imran was depriving people of valuables by colluding with police and demanded that the Inspector General of Police take action against all those who persecuted him.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2022