Heavy contingent of police reaches incident’s spot.
RPO says violent mob attack being investigated.
Police safely shift injured to local hospital, says RPO.
SARGODHA: An angry mob on Saturday tortured a person and vandalised his home over an alleged incident of blasphemy in Sargodha.
According to News, the situation turned violent when enraged people entered the man’s house in Mujahid Colony, damaged his belongings and torched a shoe factory established within it. They also burnt tyres and damaged electricity installations in the area.
However, the situation was brought under control after a heavy contingent of police, along with the RPO, reached the site of the incident.
The police managed to shift the injured victim, along with other wounded individuals, to a hospital in an ambulance before taking several suspects involved in the incident into custody.
Regional Police Officer (RPO) Shariq Kamal confirmed that the mob also attacked the police party with stones, but they were later dispersed.
The RPO said the incident was being investigated and that those who disturbed the law and order would be dealt with strictly.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed concerns over the situation in Sargodha and urged the Punjab Police and district administration to restore calm in the area and bring perpetrators to justice immediately.
Icchra incident
Today’s incident comes three months after a lady officer of Punjab Police, on February 25, rescued a woman surrounded by a charged mob in the city’s Ichhra Bazaar on suspicion of blasphemy after she was seen wearing a printed shirt bearing Arabic script.
The woman was saved by law enforcers just a few minutes after being encircled and harassed by an angry crowd that wanted to punish her for allegedly wearing a dress that they thought was blasphemous, as it adorned “holy verses” in the print.
Being unaware of what was waiting for her, the woman was accompanied by her husband at the Ichhra Bazaar when some people tried to attack her, after which she sought refuge in a nearby shop.
Upon receiving information about the incident, the Punjab Police — led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Syeda Shehrbano Naqvi, who is the sub-divisional police officer at Gulbarg Lahore — reached the scene to take the woman into their custody, saving her from the charged crowd.
According to the police, the woman, who declined to be named, confirmed she had no intention to offend anyone’s sentiments. After verifying that it was a misunderstanding and the design on the shirt did not feature holy verses, she was released.