LARKANA: The station house officer (SHO) of Shahdadkot`s A-Section police station, Ali Anwar Brohi, was suspended, reverted to a lower position and stripped of his rank after he brutally tortured an illegally detained man in the presence of a judicial magistrate (JM), who had raided the PS togetthe detaineefreed.
The JM-I of Shahdadkot, Siraj Ahmed Shar, had last Friday (Sept 15) conducted the raid on an order issued by the District and Sessions Judge of Qambar-Shahdadkot, Zahid Hussain Maitlo, to get a man, Zahid Jamali, traced. The raid was ordered on the complaint of Jamali`s wife, Ms Zubaida, who stated that her husband had been kept in illegal custody at the police station for about a week.
In his report submitted to the district and sessions judge, JM Shar said he, after being appointed as the raid commissioner, paid asurprise visit to the A-Section police station where he heard people`s screams coming out of a room next to the lock up and opened the door to find 10-12 people detained inside. He said no FIRs or NCs were registered against any of them. One of the detainees appeared to be Zahid Jamali, he said.
As soon as he [the JM] started to write all this in the Roznamcha [diary], SHO Ali Anwar Brohi appeared there all of a sudden and misbehaved with him, the magistrate stated, adding that the SHO snatched the Roznamcha and mobile phone from him and started beating up Zahid Jamali in front him. A video showing the detainee being tortured was available on record, he said. `I was confined for about 20 minutes to a portion of the police station the gate of which was locked from outside,` the magistrate said.
It was revealed by a police officer, Tufail Ahmadani, who was given the acting charge of SHO on Sunday, that Brohi took away Jamali along with him and both of them remained untraced till Monday.
Matter brought on SHC record On Monday, District and Sessions Judge Zahid Hussain Maitlo wrote a letter to the Sindh High Court registrar to reportthe entire episode.
The judge enclosed the JM`s report with the communication and informed the registrar that SHO Ali Anwar Brohi and two constables, Hassan Magsi and Nadir Brohi, took the law into their own hands to commit cognizable offences and misused their official duties as well.
The judge recommended contempt of court proceedings against them.
Meanwhile, disposing of Zubaida Jamali`s application pertaining to her husband`s illegal confinement at the police station, Judge Maitlo ordered registration of an FIR against Ali Anwar Brohi. He also reproduced JM Shar`s report in his order.
Complainant Ms Jamali was represented by Azhar Ali Kalhoro in her case.
During the hearing earlier, acting SHO Tufail Ahmadani appeared before the judge and submittedhisreport statingthat detainee Zahid Jamali was not available at the police station as SHO Brohi had taken him away and since then they had been untraced.
The Larkana DIG had on Sunday taken punitive action against Brohi, who was removed as SHO, placed under suspension and demoted to a lower post.
The DIG has also ordered an inquiry into the whole episode, according to sources.
