[The News (Pak) Top Stories] DSP Muhammad Akram was suspended while four other policemen were arrested on Wednesday after a video showed a policeman publicly beating denuded suspects with a fat leather strap (chittar) as other cops held down the victims in Bhowana police station of Chiniot district. The government action was swift, though this manner of torture is customary in all police stations across the country, and this primitive, inhuman style of torture continues under the nose of supervisory officers, including member of the elite Police Service of Pakistan.
The footage captured with a cellphone camera from a nearby house was shown repeatedly on several local television stations, sparking anger in the country. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered the IGP to take strict action immediately.
Bhowana SHO Abdur Razzaq, SI Abdullah Kalyar, Constables Afzal Kalyar, Sajjad and Sarfraz publicly stripped seven persons naked and lashed them with Chittar 30 times. Boys and girls of adjoining schools also witnessed this gross violation of law by the police.
The accused police officials were furious that relatives of the detained men had complained that they had been falsely accused of robbery, Chiniot DPO Fayaz Sumbal told AP. The DPO said the suspects were involved in heinous crimes. The DPO has been issued a show-cause notice. The SHO is known as an encounter specialist. Locals allege he beat the detained suspects daily at 11 pm.
A few days back, he beat three accused in a similar fashion. The SHO and the other four officers have been jailed and will be tried on torture charges, said Sumbal. TV channels reported the IGP as saying the arrested cops would be tried under the anti-terrorism law. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah assured people in an interview with a news television that appropriate legal action was being taken and the officers "will not remain in the police force."