— Culprits suspended, high-ups assure of further probe
LAHORE: A Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Humanities and Social Sciences Department (HSSD) faculty member was assaulted by three officers of Police Response Unit (PRU) in Barkat Market area of Garden Town on May 9.
The incident took place when the victim enquired the police officers about any remuneration to be paid to an under-aged boy in exchange of his car washing service, which he said, was provided for over 20 minutes.
He said that the police officers, when confronted with the question, started pushing and abusing him before telling that “it is a crime to ask questions from police officers” and he is an ‘ordinary man’. He said that his shirt was torn by the police officers and was slapped in the face.
Kaleem said he was later taken to Garden Town police station in the same vehicle when one of the police officers tore off his shirt himself during their way to the police station and was threatened of being implicated for assaulting an on-duty officer, and of registering a First Information Report (FIR) against him.
However, later on May 11, Qurban Lines Police Headquarters (QLPH) SP Nadeem and DSP Ateeq called the victim and informed him that the three responsible officers have been suspended, and will be sacked in the coming week.
SHO Farooq Ahmad, while talking to Pakistan Today, confirmed that an inquiry against the officers has been launched, and an appropriate action would be taken against the culprits.
Kaleem, while talking to the scribe, said that such incidents are unfortunate however awareness needs to be spread among people so they can report such instances of abuse of power on the multiple helplines and social media pages created for this purpose. He also appreciated Punjab police over the swift action.
He said that he plans to take a delegation of children from the affected area on May 14 (Monday) to earn the latter an apology from the suspended officers.
Repeated attempts were made to contact the authorities concerned at QLPH for a comment, but no officers were available.
