CHUNIAN - I have myself seen the killing of 21-year-old Shahid Ali Jutt. I was grazing goats near ‘Dhaya’ when i saw M Hayat and Afzal Kali, tightening a rope around the neck of Shahid Ali. They soon started striking his body with axes. When he fell down on the ground, they shot a bullet in his head and he breathed his last.”
Noraan Bibi W/O Nazir Ahmad narrated this during an exclusive talk with The Nation here the other day. It is to be noted that Noraan is an eyewitness to the kidnapping and murder of deceased Shahid Ali Jutt a few days ago and victim of police torture for reporting the incident to the police against the ‘influential’ culprits.
She continued that as soon as the killers left the spot she rushed towards the body but the accused spotted her and came back to her, threatening that “If she tells anybody about the incident they will chop the bodies of her entire family members into pieces.” Noraan said the incident that took place on April 21 left her frightened and upset too much.
 “The other day my husband Nazir asked me that you (Noraan) are hiding something from me. I started crying and told the whole story to him.” “My husband told the story to someone, who then told the same to the relatives of the deceased Shahid Ali. Later, the police with my help recovered the body from ‘Dhaya,” she described. Noraan pointed out that on the same night, the Changa Manga Police arrested her along with her husband. “Later in the night, Investigation Officer Liaqat Ali hanged me upside down with the roof and started lashing me with the traditional ‘CHITTAR.’ The police lashed me 20 ‘Chittars’ on different parts of my body which left me fainted,” she claimed.
She said that the police rushed her to the Rural Health Centre Changa Manga where she gained senses and the police again brought her back to the Police Station. “Now again the police personnel undressed me and started beating on the sensitive parts,” she continued.
“My innocent kid kept crying in the meanwhile and my husband Nazir Ahmad begged for mercy from Police but Police wanted that i shall give a statement that I have not seen anything. Police also threatened the couple that if they did not cooperate with the police, they will also be implicated in the case,” Noraan told.
Meanwhile, elders of ‘Dhag’ village and journalists reached the Police Station due to which the police took her to an unknown place where they put her thumb impression on a blank white paper and left her.
Noraan Bibi was crying and begging her death. She cried to the extent that fell unconscious in front of this scribe.
Meanwhile, when contacted the police officials told The Nation that men and women were equal in the eyes of the law as far as the crime was concerned. They also termed torture as “inevitable” in the investigation process.
This newspaper was the first one which broke the story of the woman’s plight. Following the publication of the news, PML-Q MPA Semal Kamran submitted an Adjournment Motion in Punjab Assembly in which she condemned the brutality of the Changa Manga Police and demanded an immediate action against the responsible police officials.
Meanwhile, while talking to this scribe, MPA Semal Kamran said that it was very disappointing that a woman who tried to help the police was tortured mercilessly. Torture itself is a crime but torture on a woman is an even the bigger crime,” she declared.
Moreover, following the news of Adjournment Motion against the police, the Changa Manga Police again arrested Nooraan Bibi. She told this scribe that IO Liaqat Ali undressed her and beaten on her sensitive parts. She said that the officer ordered her that she should not tell anyone about the torture and if anyone asked, she shall tell them that no one had tortured her. “The Investigation Officer also offered me Rs50,000 as bribe to keep mum in the case,” Nooraan claimed.
Meanwhile, as per recent reports, Nooraan Bibi along with other family members has been missing and nobody knows where she has gone. Neither her medical examination could be carried out to confirm torture nor FIR could be registered against the police officers in the case so far.
Interestingly, the DPO, RPO, DIG and IGP have been in deep slumber and none of the top cops have bothered taking any action against the police officials in this regard. Local civil society and citizens have demanded Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to take notice of the police highhandedness and provide justice to the hapless woman and her family.