Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Operations Wing Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Sajjad Khan suspended two officials for beating up a taxi driver on Sunday.

Cops were caught on camera while beating up a taxi driver and fruit vendors in separate incidents.

In one incident, two cops in black Anti-terrorist Squad outfit chased a taxi cab on Khyber Road in the Peshawar Cantonment area after an unidentified citizen complained about the driver for hitting his vehicle. The driver had not stopped earlier when the police signalled him.

According to witnesses, the taxi driver hit two more vehicles on a busy road as he attempted to get away from the chasing police vehicle. The police were able to stop the taxi on Khyber Road in the jurisdiction of Hashtnagri Police Station.

However, a citizen made video of the police grabbing the driver’s hair as they pulled him out of the vehicle. The taxi driver was later handed over to the Hashtnagri Police Station.

Sources revealed that the video footage was sent to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General (IG) Salahuddin Mehsud. The IG is said to have forwarded the footage to Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Tahir Khan.

In a separate incident, Gul Nazuk, a fruit seller, was beaten by five traffic wardens. Again caught on camera, the traffic policemen beat the vendor and later took him away.

Gul, who was badly injured in the 2014 terrorist attack on the then Inspector General Frontier Constabulary (IGFC) Sifwar Ghayur, said he was selling fruits when the wardens, headed by Mushtaq Khan, started abusing him. “Soon after, they started beating me in the crowded market as I lost my consciousness briefly. They then took me to traffic headquarters at Bacha Khan Chowk where they again tortured me for an unknown reason,” he said while showing the torture marks on his back.

Gul Nazuk also claimed that the traffic wardens took away Rs 4,000 from him during the episode.

However, there were unconfirmed reports that the vendor was a known criminal and he often used to play innocent when police tried to remove his cart during action against encroachments.

A police inquiry has also been initiated in to the second incident on the directions of the CCPO.

The province has witnessed a visible change in the police behaviour in interacting with people and treatment of suspects.