TAXILA, Dec 13: A mother accused a Rawalpindi police officer of illegally detaining and torturing her son to recover a loan his brother had taken but could not pay back in time.

Kishawar Sultana, 52, told newsmen here on Monday that ASI Shafeeq of RA Bazaar Police Station came to Taxila on December 5 with some policemen and took away her son Sohail Ahmed and his colleague Mohammad Miskeen from Nawababad Market where they worked as salesmen. She claimed her son was severely tortured and she was made to hear his cries on telephone.

She believed Sohail was subjected to the ill treatment for the money that her other son, Umar Ahmed, had borrowed from Adnan Zahoor, a resident of Rawalpindi, but could not pay back and went into hiding. Zahoor filed a complaint with RA Bazaar police under Section 406 on December 2.

Kishwar said the police have told her to repay the loan to secure Sohail’s release. She requested the senior police officers to investigate the arrest and torture of her son and see that he was released.

Her lawyer Aftab Ahmed said the Rawalpindi police violated the legal procedure by not informing the Wah Cantonment police about arresting a person from their jurisdiction. Moreover, he said, the judicial magistrate ordered the police to conduct medical examination of Sohail from a civil surgeon on December 9 but it was done on December 11, apparently to allow his wounds to heal.

ASI Shafeeq of RA bazaar police station however denied torturing Sohail and termed it a baseless allegation.

He said the accused was on remand and his case would be dealt on merit. As for not recording the arrest with the Wah Cantonment police station, the officer said he did not follow the procedure because of ‘some departmental problems’.