BAHAWALNAGAR: Members of the local press club on Tuesday staged a protest rally against a policeman for allegedly thrashing a journalist and holding him hostage.

The journalists demanded that District Police Officer Attaur Rahman should take action against Saddar police ASI Ismail Mohal for beating up their colleague and tak-ing him hostage. They threatened larger protests if their demand was not met.

According to sources, the ASI had beaten a transgender person and the community staged a protest against the police.

Journalist Zafar Abbas had a footage of the incident showing the policeman thrashing the transgender person.

When the ASI came to know of the footage, he asked Abbas to handit over to him. On the journalist`s refusal, the policeman thrashed Abbas, broke his camera and held him hostage.

The ASI was later booked in two cases of torture but was not arrested.

B-Division police Station House Officer Nadeem Iqbal told Dawn the suspect had secured ball in both the cases.

He would be dealt with as per law, the SHO added.