(PPF/IFEX) – On 21 June 1998, M. Ismail Jatoi, a journalist working in Shikarpur, Sindh province, was beaten by police for taking photographs of a police officer while he was allegedly taking a bribe from a man who had crushed a boy to death under his pick-up truck. The man had run over the boy […]
(PPF/IFEX) – On 21 June 1998, M. Ismail Jatoi, a journalist working in
Shikarpur, Sindh province, was beaten by police for taking photographs of a
police officer while he was allegedly taking a bribe from a man who had
crushed a boy to death under his pick-up truck.
The man had run over the boy within the jurisdiction of the New Faujdaari
Police Station. The driver then took the body to Civil Hospital, to save
himself from being involved in a murder case. The pick-up driver offered a
bribe to the Station House Officer (SHO) concerned. Jatoi photographed the
SHO accepting the bribe from the driver. The SHO and Deputy Superintendent
of Police (DSP) Akhter Shah then assaulted the photographer, smashing his
camera in the process.
Journalists in Shikarpur strongly condemned the beating of Jatoi and filed a
complaint against the SHO and DSP with the Deputy Inspector General (DIG)
and Superintendent of Police (SP), demanding their immediate suspension.
They also threatened to start protests throughout Sindh if the SHO and DSP
were not suspended.
