Pakistani policeman arrested for assaulting a Hindu octogenarian

Karachi: A police constable in Pakistan’s city of Karachi has been arrested after he beat a Hindu man aged over 80 years for eating and selling food before iftaar, triggering a social media campaign calling for justice for the elderly man. [caption id=“attachment_2830300” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Reuters[/caption] According to the reports, the IG Sindh police ordered the arrest of Ali Hussain after the family of Gokal Das posted pictures of the octogenarian who was beaten and bruised badly. “The incident occurred last Thursday in the remote village of Hayat Pitafi in Ghotki district of the southern Sindh province where Das was selling Iftaari items before Iftaar, the the evening meal with which Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset. Hussain claimed he also saw him eating a banana,” a local police official said. “The constable showed high-handedness in dealing with the matter and he thrashed the old man who was rescued by citizens,” he said. Bachal Qazi, the Station House Officer of the Jawar police station in whose jurisdiction the village falls said that the constable and his brother “threw the old man on the ground and beat him badly before people rescued him.” Das was later taken to a hospital for treatment as he was bleeding. A social media campaign was launched calling for justice for Das following the uploading of his pictures. Hussain who is posted in Ghotki district has been arrested on charges of torturing and injuring Das. The police arrested Hussain after Vinod Kumar, Gokal Das’s grandson, registered an FIR against him for assault. Social and civil right activists as well as ordinary citizens criticised the intolerance exhibited by the police in the month of Ramadan, which started on June 7 and demanded exemplary punishment for him. It prompted the government to take quick action and arrest the police constable and his brother. A sizeable number of Hindus live in Pakistan’s Sindh province. Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, daughter of former president Asif Ali Zardari, whose Pakistan People’s Party is in power in Sindh, took to social media to announce the arrest of the cop. “The policeman has been arrested,” she tweeted. Dawn reported an FIR had been registered in Jarwar police station against the policeman for assaulting the senior citizen.