Police claimed on Saturday to have arrested six men for betting on cock fights in Bahlak.
City Police Officer Haidar Ashraf told the media that Bahlak Station House Officer (SHO) Yousuf Shahzad had arrested Farooq Aslam, Shahbaz Jafar, Hameed Mashooq, Zuhra Shahid, Abid Zahoor and Asif Ibrahim in a raid at Chak 608 GB.
He said the police had seized money they were betting with.
Several relatives of the arrested men staged a protest demonstration against policemen accusing them of demanding a bribe.
Naveed Ahmad, one of the protestors, said a police team led by the Bahlak SHO had arrested the men because they had refused to bribe them.
“Cock fights take place every year here as part of spring celebrations.” Denying betting charges, Ahmad said the fights were cheap entertainment.
He alleged that the raiding police had “disrupted” the fights because the organiser had refused them a bribe.
“They demanded a Rs50,000 bribe from Farooq Aslam, the event organiser… when he refused to pay the police accused the men of betting and arrested them,” he said.
Ahmad said the policemen also took away the champion birds.
“There was no bet money… a few thousand rupees they seized were the money the participants happened to have in their pockets,” he said.
SHO Yousuf Shahzad denied that the police had demanded a bribe. He told The Express Tribune that cock fights were frequently organised in Okara.
“On Saturday, it took place in Bahlak area so we took action,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2014.