FAISALABAD: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident in which police produced a handcuffed employee of the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ), Toba Tek Singh, before the lawyers in the district bar a couple of days ago.

The demand was made on Tuesday during a meeting held with the PMA patron-in-chief, Dr Tufail Muhammad, in chair and its office-bearers and members in presence.

The participants condemned the police action, demanding Chief Minister Usman Buzdar suspend the police officials involved in the incident and issue orders for a judicial probe into the issue.

Dr Muhammad Irfan, PMA Faisalabad chapter secretary, told Dawn the police officials had held their own court to please the lawyers. He said hospital paramedics and a lawyer had had a scuffle over the issue of issuance of a medical certificate earlier in the hospital. Instead of tackling the matter lawfully, he said, police had become a party in the case which further put a question mark over the already tarnished image of the police department. He said the police officials wasted no time in registering a case and arresting the paramedic and then forced him for reconciliation.

“The court is a place for reconciliation, not the bar premises. Police could ask the lawyers to join the court proceedings if the complainant wanted to pardon the paramedic,” Dr Irfan said and added that the medical community was very perturbed over this conduct of police.

A senior police official said the reconciliation between the two parties–lawyer and the DHQ Hospital employees–had been settled with their consent and police had not compelled anyone for settlement. He said one handcuffed man, Adeel, was named in the first information report and police had taken him there to produce before a court. Waqas, the brother of Adil, requested police to take him to the district bar library so that the issue could be resolved as their negotiation for reconciliation was already underway, he added.

He said police had no bad intention in the entire episode and the accused was handcuffed lawfully. Basharat, fellow of Adil, was neither arrested by police nor was he handcuffed as he appeared before the lawyers on his own.

The officer said police followed the law and whenever warring parties requested police for reconciliaiton, their request was respected.

Dr Irfan said what option one would have when police would favour the powerful people and press the accused to reconcile in the matter. He alleged that in this case Adil was compelled to reconcile with lawyers by appearing before them.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2019