Lahore, Aug 02: A police constable’s nose, ears and lips were chopped off by a man who accused him of blackmailing his wife and sharing her objectionable video to the entire village, police in Pakistan’s Punjab province, news agency PTI reported.
Constable Qasim Hayat was severely tortured before Muhammad Iftikhar, the primary suspect, and his accomplices severed his nose, ears, and lips on Sunday in Jhang district, around 200 kilometers from Lahore, the police said as per PTI.
Qasim was rushed to the Civil Hospital Jhang where the medico-legal officer (MLO) confirmed that the constable has got 13 wounds. However, his condition is said to be out of danger.
“The husband and son of the woman were among three suspects who have been arrested”, District Police Officer (DPO) said.
Rashid said that an investigation was underway against Qasim when the suspects took the law into their hands and badly tortured the police constable.
As per the first information report (FIR), the police constable is said to have had a relationship with the woman and threatened to harm her son if she refused to meet him.
According to the report, Qasim made an offensive video of the woman when they first met and later blackmailed her. When she stopped paying money the policeman broadcast the footage to the entire community.
After the video went viral, a case was registered on the complaint of the woman’s son at a local police station. The police filed a case under the sections 354, 384 and 292 of the Pakistan penal Code. However, he was not arrested.
A cousin of the police official Tahir Imran said that the investigation so far has not been able to prove that Qasim had shared the video, adding that his cousin was attacked despite being on bail.
He went on to say that both sides are neighbors and that he felt that the reason of the quarrel was something else, as is often the case in rural regions.