Summera, Irfan and Bilal Muhammed allege that a colonel, whose name and photo have been withheld due to an ongoing police investigation, at the station assaulted them and called them ‘terrorists’ when they went to give food to friends of theirs who were arrested as illegal immigrants. “When we got to the front desk, a colonel refused to let us give food to our friends who were arrested. He got angry and called us terrorists when we insisted on seeing the people we came to give the food to,” they said.
The colonel allegedly punched Irfan and soon a brawl ensued and police then arrested the family for assault. They allege that they were held in police cells with their two children, a young boy and a baby. While there, police allegedly refused to let the boy use the toilet until he messed himself inside the holding cell. Summera said later that night she refused when police said a social worker could come and take the children away, as they were minors. “I was not going to let them take my children away when I did not do anything wrong,” she stated.
They also claim that, at first, police were not eager to open a case of assault against the colonel, but only did so after the colonel had opened an assault case against Irfan and Bilal. They said the attack on them was uncalled for as they did not provoke police. Irfan and Bilal have since appeared in court on charges of grievous bodily harm and assault in the case police opened against the two men.
Provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said, “The case against the colonel has been handed over to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. Investigations on both cases will be made.”
Directorate spokesperson, Grace Langa, confirmed that a query into the allegations had been received and said a response would be issued once the matter had been investigated.
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