A man’s hands were cut off on Wednesday over a theft allegation. Police have arrested two of the four men nominated in the FIR filed by the victim’s son.
The amputee was taken to Dera Ghazi Khan district headquarters hospital, where doctors later said he would likely survive.
Sakhi Sarwar police said that Muhammad Tufail, 35, a resident of Chak Nangar, was allegedly caught red- handed stealing from Muhammad Ishaq’s and Fida Hussain’s houses- two compounds in a family home.
They said four men, including the house owners, took him to Choti Bala area, where they tied him up and cut off both his hands. Some passers-by later took him to his house, from where he was taken to the DHQ hospital.
Dr Haroon Bilal, in charge of the emergency ward, told The Express Tribune that Tufail was “out of danger” now, but would be kept under observation for at least three days.
Police said Ishaq and Hussain had been arrested, but their accomplices Nazeer Ahmed and Ata Muhammad were missing. They said Ishaq and Hussain had confessed to the chopping saying they wanted to “punish Tufail and set an example for other obbers”. Station House Officer Muhammad Ayub said that initial investigation had revealed that eight years ago, the same men had accused Tufail of having illicit relationship with one of their cousins. He said a panchayat had declared Tufail innocent two years later. The woman’s family had allegedly kept threatening him with dire consequences. He said they had declared Tufail kala (adulterer).
The SHO said that an FIR was registered on the complaint of Tufail’s son Abdul Ghaffar under Sections 334 (intention to hurt a person), 148 (armed with …weapon) and 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution). He said no robbery case had been traced against the victim during initial investigation. He said the opponent’s allegations were also being investigated.
Ghaffar told The Express Tribune that he and his family were now receiving death threats for reporting the incident to the police and telling them about their previous allegations.
CM expresses regret
Caretaker Chief Minister Najam Sethi has expressed regret over the incident.
In a statement issued on Wednesday evening, the CM directed the police to take strict notice of the incident and sought a report from the regional police officer.
He directed the police to arrest all the suspects at the earliest and ordered the district administration to provide best treatment to the victim.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 25th, 2013.