KARACHI - Taking notice of the torture on a lawyer by police guards, who were part of the VIP protocol, Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Allah Dino Khawaja Tuesday ordered suspension of the cops involved.

Advocate Osama Raza was assaulted by VIP protocol guards in Karachi while he was filming them through his cellphone.

The incident took place on main Shara-e-Faisal. The video, gone viral on social media, revealed that the victim was making video of the protocol while driving his car when a guard got off the police van, walked up to the victim’s car, hurled abuses at him and beat him up. “How dare you make a video, your father is in the car,” the policeman shouted at the advocate.

The man, however, did not stop following the protocol and continued making the video, which further infuriated the guards who approached him again.

“SP Security Malik Muhammad Ehsan has been appointed as an inquiry officer to look into the matter,” said spokesperson for Central Police Office (CPO).

The inquiry officer said that an inquiry had already been initiated against the cops.

“Both the cops, squad commander and a jawan, who mistreated the citizen, have already been suspended while I have also initiated a departmental inquiry against them,” Ehsan said, and added, “The squad was escorting a judge when the citizen breached the security cordon.”

Replying to a question, he said that it was not necessary to register a case against the cops as they only manhandled him.

On the other hand, the victim, who is a lawyer by profession, has vowed to register a case against them.

He said that he had mistakenly breached the security cordon. “When cops signalled me to go away, they jammed my car and made it difficult for me to move from the first lane to the third lane of the road.

The aim of filming the incident was only to raise my voice to the authorities concerned. To label a common citizen a terrorist does not make sense. The guards were not guarding any high-profile personality, but were escorting the family of an individual when the incident occurred,” he added.