A Hindu family of poor farmers were reportedly held hostage and tortured for collecting drinking water from a mosque in the Punjab province of Pakistan.

According to reports, Alam Ram Bheel, a resident of Punjab’s Rahimyar Khan city, was picking raw cotton along with his other family members, including his wife, in a field. Bheel said when the family went outside a nearby mosque to fetch drinking water from a tap, some local landlords thrashed them up. The reports add that When the family was returning home after unloading the picked cotton, the landlords held them hostage at their Outhouse and tortured them again for violating the sanctity of the mosque, it reported.

Bheel further said, The police did not register a case as the attackers were related to a local Parliamentarian of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Protesting the police apathy, Bheel held a sit-in outside the police station along with another clan member Peter John Bheel.

Peter, also a member of the district peace committee said that they approached ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Javed Warriach who helped them lodge a case on Friday. Peter requested other members of the district peace committee to call an emergency meeting over the issue but they did not take the matter seriously, the report said.

District Police Officer Asad Sarfraz said that he was looking into the matter. Deputy Commissioner Dr. Khuram Shehzad said he would meet Hindu minority elders on Monday before taking any action.

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