Punjab Police deny responsibility after video showing officers humiliating brother-sister duo goes viral

LAHORE: The Punjab Police have denied responsibility for any misdeed after a video showing officers here in the provincial capital humiliating a brother-sister duo went viral.

Authorities cried foul, saying the clip was made to "malign" the Punjab Police, after the video — in which a brother and his sister were doing sit-ups in front of a police vehicle — made rounds on the Internet.

The young man alleged that the police stopped him and his sister and then made them do sit-ups in public. The video shows them doing sit-ups with their hands on their ears [gesture used as a show of repentance], with a police mobile vehicle parked behind them.

The man has also accused Punjab Police officers of forcing him to remove his sweater, adding that the in-charge of the checkpoint conducted a body search of his sister.

'Slapped and beaten'

The man's sister told Geo News that they were "returning home from work when the police stopped  [them] and asked for [their] ID" documents. When the duo admitted they did not have them, they were taken to a police station where they were "slapped and beaten", she added.

"They searched my brother and slapped him. There was an officer named Jamshed, who first told us to go, then called us back and made us do sit-ups," she said.

Her brother added that they were poor people. "Who can we even dare to take action against," he said.

'Conspired to defame the police'

The Ghalib Market Police Station's house officer (SHO) denied that any of his subordinates were involved in the incident, saying instead that "someone conspired to defame the police [in response to] an operation against the hotel mafia".

"No official from Ghalib Market police station was involved" in the incident, the SHO said, claiming that the "footage of the boy and girl was made on purpose near the police van".

The cop added that authorities were investigating the incident and would soon "reveal the facts".