NAWABSHAH: A judicial magistrate on Thursday extended the remand of six suspects allegedly involved in mutilating a camel’s leg near Mund Jamrao in Sanghar district on June 15 for two more days.

The suspects were produced before the judge after completion of the earlier four-day remand in police custody, with police requesting an extension which judicial magistrate Habibullah Siyal allowed.

Investigation officer, Loung Khan Shar, told reporters that police were investigating the case thoroughly. They had found two axes in the possession of the suspects, he said. He informed the court that two of the suspects had already confessed to the crime but they could not find any evidence against the landlord, Ghulam Rasool Shar.

Investigating officer fails to find any evidence against landlord

The incident took place on June 15, when a landlord allegedly mutilated the camel’s right leg as “punishment” for foraging into his farmland for fodder. When police contacted the owner of the mutilated camel, Soomar Behan, he refused to identify the culprit and press charges against him, said police officials.

Hence police lodged an FIR on behalf of the state against six unknown persons under Sections 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), they said.

When police tried to arrest the six suspects in the Rantoo Bridge area near Sanghar on Saturday, they resisted being taken into custody and attacked them, according to a second FIR filed by police.

The six suspects were identified as Rustam Shar, Abid Shar, Jaffar Jatt, Abdul Shakoor Shar, Gul Baig Lashari and Darya Khan Shar.

Police officials said the FIR was lodged under Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the PPC.

The eight-month-old female camel was later transported to the Comprehensive Disaster Management Services animal shelter in Malir, Karachi, where her new caretakers named her Cammie. Efforts were underway to arrange a prosthetic leg for the brutalised animal, said sources.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2024