BAHAWALNAGAR: The A Division police have been accused of favouring the alleged abductors of a boy and pressurising the victim`s family to reconcile with them and withdraw the complaint.

While protesting over the matter, Zahid Akhtar of Chak No 15, Gajyani, told Dawn that his son Salman (15), who worked at a general store on Bukhari Street, went missing on July 16 after he left the shop at about 9:30pm.

He said that after failing to find his son, he lodged a kidnapping case against unknown abductors on July 18.

Akhtar said that on July 22, police raided the house of a local transperson and recovered his son in an unconscious condition. However, he alleged that instead of taking action against the abductors, the SHO and investigation officer (IO) of the case started pressurising him and his family to reconcile with the suspects and withdraw the complaint.

He said that on his refusal to do so, the police allegedly thrashed and used abusive language and detained them illegally in the police station for several hours.

Meanwhile, the victim, Salman, in a video statement, said that Hamza, a youth who worked with him at the shop, lured him to a place on a motorcycle where he sprayed something on his face, rendering him unconscious.

He said when he regained consciousness, he found himself in a transperson`s house. He also alleged that the suspects gave him water spiked with tranquilisers that made him sleepy for hours.

He alleged that the transperson wanted to take him to their guru in Rawalpindi and undergo a sexchange surgery.He also alleged that the police were forcing him to give a statement that he was not kidnapped and he went to the suspect`s house on his own.

Speaking to Dawn, the victim`s mother expressed apprehension that their son was also gang-raped in captivity. However, she said the police refused to get her son medically examined despite the family`s repeated written requests to this effect.

District police spokesperson Zahid Rasool denied the allegations that the police were harassing the complainant`s family or favouring the suspects.

Hestated that the matter was being investigated on its merits, butcould not reply when asked why the victim was denied medical examination immediately after his recovery.

ARRESTED: A man, along with his accomplice, was arrested on Friday for trying to marry off his daughter against her will in FortAbbas, after a video showing him forcibly taking the girl with him surfaced on social media.

Police said that Shafi Bhatti of Chak 228/9R had been separated from his wife for the past several years over some dispute between them.

They said Shafi wanted to marry their 20-year-old daughter, Shazia, who was living with her mother, to his nephew against her will.

The police said that on July 24, when Shazia was going to visit her sister, who lived in a nearby village, 170/7R, her father, along with his unidentified accomplice, thrashed and kidnapped her from Adda Shehbazka. The suspects took her to a house in a village on a motorcycle, where they locked her up in a room.

Meanwhile, a video clip showing the girl being forcibly taken away by the suspects surfaced on social media.

Taking notice of the video, the Fort Abbas police conducted a raid, rescued the girl and handed her over to her mother on the instructions of the Bahawalnagar DPO.

The police also arrested her father and a cousin andregistered a case against them under sections 342 and3540fthePPC.