Lahore: Six of Punjab Police officers are nominated in a criminal case for allegedly torturing a man to death in the city of Lahore.
According to a first information report (FIR) lodged on the complaint of the deceased’s brother, Police summoned his brother, Amir, at North Cantt police station on 28 August. He was then driven to an unknown location, where he was allegedly tortured.
On September 2, Sub Inspector Zeeshan and two unidentified officers handed over Amir, who was suffering from serious injuries, to his family. He was driven to the Services Hospital, where he passed away, the FIR stated.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Punjab Arif Nawaz Khan took notice of the incident and directed that a case be registered against SI Zeeshan, Investigation Officer Nasir Baig and four other officers and asked for a detailed report to be presented within a day.
Police have detained Baig and North Cantt police station’s Station House Officer Khurram Gul, while Zeeshan is on the run.
This is the second case that has come to light in the month. On Sunday, a man who was claimed to be mentally impaired had died in police custody in Rahim Yar Khan.
IGP Punjab had shown his anger and released a handout on Monday with a clear warning to all the field officers that “no officer will be forgiven if such crime was reported in any part of the province”.
Human rights watch reports Pakistan does not have any laws criminalizing torture, However, Pakistan’s Constitution does prevent and prohibits the use of torture for securing confession or extracting evidence. But criminal suspects and their families justifiably worry about torture in custody, especially given the lack of culpability for the police officers who use torture as a form to extract confessions.
