A woman was allegedly beaten up in police custody and paraded on the streets of Toba Tek Singh.
Her father, Siddique Masih, a resident of Chak No330-JB, told the media on Thursday that police had arrested his 22-year-old daughter from their home on August 6.
“The police officials thrashed my daughter and threatened my family with dire consequences should they interfere,” he said.
“They dragged her out of the house and thrashed her in front of the villagers…no one dared to intervene,” he said.
Masih said the police took his daughter to the police station and detained her. He said he was not told about the case registered against her.
“My wife and I visited the police station several times but we were not allowed to meet our daughter,”
Masih said he tried to meet the district police officer but his staff did not allow him to meet the officer.
He said on Wednesday, a delegation comprising Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC) Chief Organiser Akram Waqar Gil, Advocate Sadaf Siddique Khokhar, PCC Toba Tek Singh President Shahzad Fateh and Ayub Anjum of Society for Human Development, went to the police station to find out the charges, “if any, against my daughter.”
Masih said his daughter told the delegation that she had been tortured.
He said the delegation got through to the DPO later on Wednesday. “The DPOs response was not encouraging…he said he would look into the matter and would direct the police to produce the girl in the court,” he added.
“We have decided to stage a protest demonstration after Eid for her release,” he said.
City police SHO Inspector Mehr Sarfaraz Ahmad told that The Express Tribune that “the girl has been arrested for robbery…a rickshaw driver, Muhammad Ali, a resident of Chak No380 was robbed by the girl and her two accomplices on July 29, 2013.”
Ahmad denied that the girl had been beaten up or paraded. He said “a case has been registered against her and her two accomplices on the complaint of Muhammad Ali’s son, Muhammad Latif.”
He said the woman had been sent to Toba Tek Singh district jail for an identification parade. He said a date had not been fixed yet for the identification parade.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 9th, 2013.