LAHORE: A woman died in Shahdara area on Saturday after a police team allegedly thrashed her during a house raid to arrest her son for electricity theft.

Later a case was against a police official who was leading the raiding team after scores of locals staged a protest demonstration against the incident by placing the woman’s body on the road.

Witnesses said the charged protesters blocked a road for traffic for a couple of hours raising slogans against the police.

The situation turned ugly when the Shahdara station house officer (SHO) allegedly threatened the protesters of criminal cases if they did not disperse.

Following the SHO’s threat, the protesters turned violent and set tyres on fire, warning of an agitation on The Mall.

However, senior police officers later arriving at the scene controlled the situation by ordering registration of a case against the policeman accused of being responsible for the incident.

Identified as Bushra Bibi, the poor woman was running a small grocery shop at her home to make both ends meet, her relatives said.

They said the police team had thrashed her during a raid meant to arrest her son wanted for power theft which led to her death. The police denied the allegation, claiming that Bushra was a cardiac patient and might have suffered a heart attack resulting in her death.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2019