Custody death: Police resort to baton charge to break protest

Family say suspects was tortured to death, police deny allegation.

FAISALABAD:

The family of a robbery suspect who died in police custody on Monday continued to protest against the police for the second day on Tuesday alleging that the police had tortured him to death.

They were joined by relatives and neighbours making it more than 100 people.

They gathered around the Clock Tower Chowk in the Ghulam Muhammadabad area on Monday and raised slogans against the police. They demanded that the authorities take notice of the “killing” and punish the policemen responsible for it.

The protesters had dispersed on Monday night after they were assured that the matter will be placed before the higher authorities. However, on Tuesday, they returned again.

While the protesters had remained peaceful on Monday, some of them brought clubs and iron rods with them on Tuesday and threatened to attack the police station. They also burnt tyres around the chowk.

Unable to persuade them to disperse, the police resorted to baton charge. The protesters dispersed after two hours. One of them was arrested for attacking a policeman, police said.

Earlier talking to The Express Tribune, a relative of the deceased, Hafeezur Rehman, said that Rehman had been a driver at a rent-a-car company for a few years. He said on November 2, Rehman’s employer, Muhammad Aslam, filed a car theft complaint nominating him as a suspect.

He said Rehman was arrested and presented before a magistrate, who sent him on a four-day physical remand. He said the police had not recovered anything from Rehman.

On Monday, he said, when he took dinner for Rehman at the lockup, he was told that he had been taken to Allied Hospital.

On reaching the hospital, he said, he found that Rehman had died.

Doctors at the hospital said he was dead when he was brought to the hospital. He said the police claimed that Rehman had complained of chest pain and fainted.

They said he was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. They speculated that he had died from a heart attack.

The family demanded a post-mortem examination. The body was then sent to a morgue.

They alleged that Rehman had died due to torture by the policemen.

Ghulam Muhammadabad Station House Officer Rana Muhammad Mazhar denied that Rehman had been beaten or tortured.

He said the protesters were baton charged because they had blocked the road and were forcing shopkeepers to close their shops. He said they were also damaging public property. He also said the protesters’ allegations against the police were baseless.

The Station House Officer  said that the complainant, in the FIR, had said that Rehman had given him Rs400,000 saying that the car had been stolen and he did not have enough money to fully compensate him for the theft. He said the complainant suspected that Rehman had sold the car and had given him some of the money.

He said SSP (Operations) Sadiq Dogar had formed a five-member medical board to conduct the post-mortem examination. He said the police were waiting for the autopsy report.

He said Regional Police Officer Aftab Ahamd Cheema had directed City Police Officer Bilal Siddique Kamyana to forward him a detailed report on the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2012.