Police arrests 28 in youths lynching case in Pak

All 28 people detained as suspects in connection with the lynching of two young brothers in the Pakistani city of Sialkot have been arrested following the detention of three policemen, including the head of a police station who had tried to evade the authorities.

Police presented police station chief Rana Ilyas, who was absconding since the incident occurred on August 15, and two constables before an anti-terrorism court that is hearing the case and obtained physical remand for three days on Monday.
The other accused, including former Sialkot police chief Waqar Chohan, have already been remanded to judicial or police custody by the same court.
Dozens of suspected robbers and dacoits have been lynched by the police or mobs since chief minister Shahbaz Sharif's PML-N came to power in Punjab over two years ago.
Political parties, including the Pakistan People's Party which is in power at the centre, have demanded Sharif's resignation and a complete revamp of police station culture in Punjab and elsewhere.

The Supreme Court took suo moto notice of the recent lynching of the two brothers after TV news channels aired gory footage of the incident.

Two separate teams headed by Justice (retired) Kazim Ali Malik and Additional Inspector General ( CID) Mushtaq Sukhera submitted reports on the incident to the Supreme Court and the Punjab government, respectively.

Both inquiries established that the brothers - Hafiz Muneeb (21) and Hafiz Mughees (17) - were innocent and had never been charged for any crimes or robberies.

The lynching occurred when the brothers were going to meet some relatives in Buttar village on August 15. Some people caught them and claimed they were robbers fleeing after killing a man.

In a brazen display of mob justice, the people beat the brothers with sticks and iron rods and hung their bodies upside down from a water tank.

The grieved family demanded justice and stern legal action against policemen who stood by and did nothing as the brothers were lynched.

The family said the youths were killed following a dispute over a cricket match.

Muhammad Sajjad Butt, the father of the boys, said senior police officials watched the "shameful and inhuman act" as silent spectators.

Punjab police chief Tariq Saleem Dogar has assured that the probe into the incident will be transparent, clean and impartial. He said all responsible and negligent police personnel will be brought to task in order to provide speedy justice to the aggrieved family.