DERA ISMAIL KHAN: In a surprising development, the Dera police have registered a case of electricity theft against a three-and-a-half-year-old boy in the constituency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur.

Over the complaint of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company, the FIR was registered against Zaigham Abbas for allegedly stealing power.

The child was subsequently presented in the court of the additional district and sessions judge-III, who dismissed the case.

According to the child’s counsel, the Pesco officials were unaware of the fact whether the boy was their customer or not. “If any person is not consumer of Pesco, how a power theft FIR could be registered against him,” he questioned.

Meanwhile, in a statement, district bar general secretary Adnan Saeed Sadozai announced free legal support to the residents of Dera against what he said the ‘cruelties’ of Pesco.

The political and social activists condemned the act of registering FIR against a minor child and demanded of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi to focus on providing relief to people of their area rather than indulging in political confrontation.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2024