A video has gone viral on social media platforms showing a Sindh Rangers patrol vehicle hitting a motorcyclist, a young man, who falls to the ground and is arrested by Rangers personnel but not before being thrashed by them.

The video has left social media users divided with some saying that it was a chase and that Rangers patrol was trying to arrest a suspect. Many others, including PTI leader Shehbaz Gill and journalist Mubashir Zaidi, saw it differently. They believed a civilian from the middle class was subjected to brutality by law enforcement agencies.

Had this been the son of a rich man instead of someone from the middle class, the same Rangers vehicle would have been escorting him as protocol car, said Shehbaz Gill, who claims police subjected him to custodial torture earlier this year.

However, Gill was quick to delete his tweet.

The video shows a speeding Rangers patrol vehicle that rear ends a motorcyclist, who falls to the ground with his bike partially under the vehicle. As he tries to get up, he extends his hand to a Rangers personnel getting off the patrol vehicle. There is no sign that the man is trying to escape.

The Rangers’ man holds him by the collar as two other Rangers personnel get off the vehicle and beat the man with billy clubs. There are several passersby, but no one interferes.

The motorcyclist is then bundled into the patrol vehicle.

Who was the motorcyclist

The Sindh Rangers has not issued any statement over the incident so far. However, sources told Aaj News that the motorcyclist seen in the video is a drug peddler. The Rangers were chasing him after he fled during a raid, they said.

The man sold drugs near Mewa Shah Graveyard, said the sources.

Aaj News could not independently verify the claims.

Memories of 2011 incident

As the debate raged over social media, journalist Mazhar Abbas and others recalled a 2012 shooting incident when 22-year-old Sarfraz Shah was shot and wounded in a park in Karachi. He died of excessive bleeding.

Mazhar Abbas said even if the young man in the latest incident was a criminal there was no justification for beating him on the road.

“… even if the boy had committed any offence this is not the way but than how many of you remembered a tragic killing of a boy Sarfraz at Benazir Park few years back. DG should take action against those responsible,” he said in a tweet.

Following the 2011 shooting a public outcry led to conviction and sentencing of Rangers personnel.