Mukesh and his relatives deny they were ever contacted by the police; the boy says incident took place 20-days back and the accused had threatened of killing his family if he disclosed the incident
By GR Junejo
Mithi, Tharparkar: Amidst severe protest by the local minority community and the civil society the police have booked accused Abdul Salam Abu Dawood for damaging the religious harmony by using abusive language against a student Mukesh Bheel, his beliefs and Hindu gods. The victim boy and his community people however say that police were trying to save the accused.
The accused person, a driver of a private transporter hired by a company in Thar Coal Block-1, was arrested from an area near Khoski town of district Badin on Tuesday after registering FIR under Sections 295-A and 298 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
The Section 295-A envisages “Whoever destroys, damages or defiles any place of worship, or any object held sacred by any class of persons with the intention of thereby insulting the religion of any class of persons or with the knowledge that any class of persons is likely to consider such destruction, damage or defilement shall be considered as an offence.” Similarly, Section 298 of the PPC makes the uttering of any word or making of any sound in the hearing of a person or making any gesture in the sight of that person or placing of any object in the sight of that person, with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of such person, an offence.
The police itself have lodged the FIR as according to police officials, the student Mukesh Bheel or his relatives were not prepared to cooperate in the case. The relatives of Mukesh however repudiated the police claim and said they were never approached by the police and neglected them, as they also wanted to lodge a case of torturing the boy.
“After the video of the accused went viral on social media, the people of Tharparkar raised objections and the government of Sindh also took serious notice, the police lodged the FIR and arrested the accused from Khoski area,” Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Nawaz Soho and SSP Tharparkar Sardar Hassan Niazi said in a press conference and added that the police were probing the case from different aspects to ascertain how this incident occurred.
“The accused Abdul Salam Abu Dawood has confessed having committed the crime, however says he had become emotional,” SSP contended.
“We tried to contact the boy who was subjected to torture, and asked his relatives to lodge the case but they delayed and since they didn’t cooperate, the police registered the FIR on the own under the Sections 295-A and 298 PPC. We can also add more Sections if the boy’s relatives wanted,” SSP Niazi told.
Police Officer said the Tharparkar is a peaceful area and nobody will be allowed to create religious hatred and harm the interfaith harmony.
Meanwhile, the boy Mukhesh Bheel told newsmen that the incident took place twenty days back at Islamkot road when he was returning home. “I was stopped by an unknown person using his vehicle’s horn and started abusing me, Hindu beliefs and gods and after beating me up threatened not to disclose this to anyone or otherwise he would kill my family,” Mukesh Bheel told.
The boy’s video has also appeared on social media stating that police neglected them and did not ask for lodging the FIR. “The accused has also tortured me and we want to lodge such case also,” he said in the video.
The Bheel community and a local PTI leader Lajpat Sorani also said that they, along with boy’s father, wanted to register the case against the accused but the police lodged FIR without listening to the boy. “Mukesh was not taken into confidence and we think that police were trying to save the accused,” he said.
Meanwhile, MNA Dr. Mahesh Kumar Malani claimed in a statement that Sindh government had taken serious notice and ordered action against the accused after he contacted the government through Chief Minister’s Special Assistant Veerji Kolhi.
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