NAROWAL: A man, who was allegedly picked up by police unlawfully, detained and tortured brutally, forced to confess to a crime he didn’t commit and implicated in a fake case, is currently out on bail and has repeatedly urged the police station concerned to get him medically examined as per court orders, but to no avail.

On Dec 23, Yasir Nasir of Chicherwali tehsil in Sialkot’s Pasrur district was having a meal from a hotel at Daska Morr when suddenly a police van arrived and forced him to come with them. On asking the reason, the policemen tortured him publicly, he claimed, and bundled him into their vehicle.

He further claimed the Pasrur City station house officer (SHO) and other officials brutally tortured him inside the police station, beating him with sticks while hanging him upside down. He said he was being forced to confess to a theft and robbery he hadn’t committed. Police then carried him in their van to his village Chicherwali late at night, searched his house and allegedly harassed and abused his mother and wife.

Nasir said the Pasrur police then registered a false and baseless first information report (FIR) against him on Dec 24 on charges of making a false call on the 15 helpline. In the same FIR, the name of another man, Muhammad Sohail of Mohalla Sofiabad, Pasrur and who had apparently called on 15, was also mentioned.

The applicant of the FIR against Nasir, Pasrur Assistant Sub-Inspector Muhammad Tariq, claimed the man was engaged in a transaction involving a motorcycle rickshaw with someone. He wasted police’s time and fuel by making a false call of a theft on the 15 helpline.

Nasir, meanwhile, said he dealt in motorcycle spare parts, and after obtaining a bail from court, he went to Pasrur City police station to get his medical examination conducted on court order. However, he claimed, the officials there pushed him and him father out of the police station.

Sialkot district police spokesman Mian Muhammad Razzaq said according to the newly appointed Pasrur SHO, Nasir had reconciled with the police. However, the man claimed he was tortured by police in illegal custody and had not reconciled.

Nasir demanded justice from Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and the Punjab police chief and strict action against the police officers and employees involved.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2022