April 20, 2026
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
Samiullah was already struggling with the arrest of his sister Shaheen by the local police on charges of theft. And then when he went to see his along with his father in the police station, things suddenly went terribly and unimaginably wrong.
The girl, 22 year old Shaheen, had worked as a housemaid in the Defence area of Lahore for the past year and a half. On April 9, her employer accused her of stealing a diamond ring, and handed her over to the police, who took her into custody but did not file a first information report (FIR).
One morning, when Samiullah and his father went to the Defence A police station to visit Shaheen and bring her some breakfast from home, they had no idea that only one of them would be going back home. Samiullah would end up leaving days later, bearing marks of torture, only to make him “confess” about where Shaheen had hid the stolen diamond ring.
“I was kept at the police station the whole day,” Samiullah recounted. “In the evening, police officials brought me into a room where my accused sister was sitting on the floor.”
What followed was a brutal interrogation. Officers tied Samiullah’s hands and hung him from the ceiling, demanding that he and his sister reveal where the ring was hidden.
“We were innocent,” he said. “I pleaded that I didn’t know anything about the ring.”
Salimullah was beaten up rutlhlessly while he was suspended in mid-air for almost an hour. Then he was brought down to the ground and whipped with a leather lash.
A video that changed everything
Unknown to the officers in that room, Shaheen’s other sister came to the police station looking for her brother who had not come back home. When she managed to force her way in, she saw the way Samiullah was being tortured. Quietly she began recording it on her phone.
سر اور میڈم کہہ کر مخاطب کرنا تو دور تھانوں میں تشدد کا کلچر ختم نہ ہوسکا
بہن پر چوری کا الزام لاہور پولیس کے جوان کا بھائی پر تشدد
ویڈیو میں لڑکے کے کاندھوں اور گردن کے درمیان ڈنڈا لگا کر تشدد کرتے دیکھا جا سکتا ہے pic.twitter.com/SJstiu1sxX
— Uzair Chaudhry (@Uzairismm) April 18, 2026
“The police officers saw her recording on the phone and tried to stop her,” Samiullah said, “but she managed to evade them and fled the police station on a bike with our relative.”
The sister uploaded the video to social media and quickly went viral, setting off a swift institutional response.
Inquiry ordered, police station staff suspended
Following the circulation of the footage, the Lahore DIG Operations ordered immediate action after which the entire staff of Defence A police station was suspended, and a show cause notice was issued to the concerned SDPO. The SP Cantt was tasked with conducting a formal inquiry into the incident.
“Police are not allowed to mistreat citizens or misuse their powers,” a spokesperson for the DIG Operations said.
On April 19, a case was registered at Defence A police station against two constables — Sajid Ali and lady constable Hafsa Sheikh — for the torture captured in the viral video. The complaint was filed by Sub-Inspector Shiraz Ahmed, who stated that upon examining the footage, it became evident that both constables had been interrogating a man and a woman inside a room at the station.
The constables have been charged under Section 342 of the Pakistan Penal Code for wrongful confinement, as well as under Section 155-C of the Police Order 2002, which pertains to wilful breach or neglect of law by police officials. The penalty under Section 155-C can extend to three years imprisonment and a fine.
Legal gaps
However, legal experts have raised concerns about whether the charges filed are adequate — or deliberately toothless.
Shabbir Hussain, a lawyer with the AGHS Legal Aid Cell, told Voicepk that police officials frequently charge colleagues under Section 155 of the Police Order precisely because the case is likely to lapse in the trial court if an authorised written report is not submitted as required under the section’s own proviso.
More critically, Hussain pointed out that since the torture took place inside a room within a police station, the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act, 2022 — a law specifically designed for such circumstances — should have been invoked. “Police did not opt for the torture law as the investigating agency under it is the Federal Investigation Agency,” he explained, suggesting the omission may not have been accidental.
Still waiting for justice
For Samiullah and his family, the ordeal is far from over. He and Shaheen — who spent four days in illegal confinement before the video forced their release — have received no update from police about the investigation.
Instead, the pressure has come from an unexpected direction. “The family members of the accused police constables are contacting me for a compromise,” Samiullah said, “but I have not responded to it.”
His family’s circumstances leave little room for anything but resolve. Samiullah is the only son among seven siblings. is father drives a rickshaw and his mother is disabled. His sisters, including Shaheen, work as domestic workers to sustain the household. Now he only wants justice for what has been done to them.