The staff of a Pakistani fast-food joint were illegally detained last week after refusing to provide officers with free burgers.
According to the BBC, the arrests took place last week at Johnny & Jugnu in Lahore where it became a “common practice” for officers to demand free food. The owners of the restaurant claim law enforcement had gone to the restaurant on June 9 and had once again requested menu items free of charge. After the staff denied the demands, the officers allegedly threatened the managers and spent the next two days harassing employees with baseless claims about safety violations.
On June 11, “some police officers came to our … outlet and took our manager into custody, without giving any reason whatsoever,” Johnny & Jugnu wrote on Facebook. “Then they emptied out our entire branch, taking all of our kitchen crew, including the rest of the managers. They forced them to leave everything as it was, leaving behind unattended kitchens, with our fryers still running, customers waiting for their orders, they did not allow anyone to even close down the kitchens or tend to customers.”
A total of 19 employees—most of whom were university students—were taken into custody and held for nearly seven hours overnight.
In wake of the arrests, Lahore officials confirmed they had suspended the nine officers involved in the illegal arrests. IG Punjab Inam Ghani has also called on the Lahore Capital City Police Officer to pursue legal action against the culprits.
“No one is allowed to take law into his own hands,” the Punjab police tweeted last week. “Injustice will not be tolerated. All of them will be punished.”
