Pakistan police probe deaths in police custody
One was alleged to be mentally disabled; another man’s spine was fractured during torture
Islamabad: The recent spate of people dying in police custody have brought embarrassment to the force and come days after instructions were issued to field officers.
Police have ordered inquiries into the incidents in Rahim Yar Khan (RYK) and Lahore.
Only days before the incident, the Inspector General of the Punjab Police Capt (R) Arif Nawaz Khan issued instructions to all field officers that “no officer will be spared if such crime was reported in any part of the province”.
According to details, Salahuddin Ayubi, a resident of Gujrat district, was arrested from Rahim Yar Khan last Friday after a video of him breaking open an ATM, making faces and sticking his tongue out at the CCTV camera went viral.
On Sunday morning, he was found dead and the local police claimed he had taken ill and his condition deteriorated suddenly.
His family members and civil society, however, dismissed the claims and alleged that he died because of police torture.
After Ayubi’s case went viral on social media, police reluctantly initiated an inquiry into his death and a murder case was registered against three police officials for allegedly torturing him.
The case was registered on a complaint from Ayubi’s father Mohammad Afzaal against City A-Division’s Station House Officer Mehmoodul Hassan, investigation officers Sub-Inspector Shafaat Ali and Assistant Sub-Inspector Matloob Hussain.
Ayubi’s father said in the first information report (FIR) that his son was mentally disabled and had been out of touch for a while. Afzaal had even tattooed Ayubi’s name and address on his son’s arm for identification purposes.
Another incident of police brutality was reported from Lahore, where Amjad Ali died last Sunday at a local hospital of Lahore due to alleged torture by the Gujjarpura police. He was recovered from an illegal torture cell being operated by police.
The torture cell was found in a building of the forest department where nine suspects, including Ali, were illegally kept by the police for “interrogation”.
Private footage went viral on social media showing Ali lying on a bed in critical condition after the torture led to a spine fracture.
In the clips, Ali said he couldn’t move due to the fracture he had suffered during the torture by the police who had picked him up from his home.
He also alleged that the raiding policemen had misbehaved with his family, took away cash and valuables from his home and locked him in the building of the forest department.
As the video reached the police high-ups, they ordered an inquiry that was carried out initially by a superintendent of police and then another senior police officer.
In both the inquiries, the SHO and other policemen are accused of using torture against the suspects which is not permissible by law.