Human rights violation: SHO demoted after inquiry finds him guilty of abuse

Bashir Khan and two constables illegally detained and tortured a technician, leaving him partially disabled.

HARIPUR:

An SHO suspended earlier this year has been demoted by DIG Hazara after a probe found him guilty of subjecting a detainee to custodial abuse last year.

IGP Nasir Khan Durrani suspended Khanpur SHO Bashir Khan along with constables Sohail and Mushtaq in February and ordered an enquiry against them after local and international human rights organisations appealed to the federal and provincial governments seeking legal action against the officer for human rights violations.

Inhumane treatment

During their posting at the city police station in Haripur, the three policemen had allegedly kept 26-year-old Sabir, a technician, illegally in police custody after he delayed fixing a police officer’s personal car on June 19, 2013.

The policemen tortured Sabir severely, causing injuries to his spinal cord and leaving him partially disabled, stated the technician’s medical report. Sabir remained hospitalised in Haripur for a while and later in Rawalpindi for over 15 days.



The police initially refused to register an FIR of Sabir’s torture and illegal detention but after the victim’s family members and civil society organisations protested, the then DPO Najeebur Rehman Bhagvi suspended SHO Khan and constables Sohail and Mushtaq, registering a case under Section 342 of the Pakistan Penal Code on July 2, 2013.

The section states, “Whoever wrongfully confines any person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with a fine of up to Rs3,000 or both.” Later, the complainant withdrew the case against the SHO after the former reportedly paid for Sabir’s treatment. However, human rights organisations kept protesting and sought action against the accused.

Keeping the fight going

The Asian Human Rights Commission and Human Development Organization, a local NGO, jointly pursued the case and sent the appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the president and prime minister of Pakistan as well as the governor and chief minister of K-P, seeking their intervention.

Subsequently, responding to the appeal, IGP Durrani suspended SHO Khan and the two constables on February 3 and ordered an enquiry which was conducted by a committee tasked by the office of Hazara DIG Akhtar Hayat Gandapur.

According to officials familiar with the matter, the committee found the SHO guilty of violating the law and proposed punishment. Thus, DIG Gandapur issued orders of demoting the SHO to the rank of a sub-inspector. Khan would also now be required to serve two more years before retiring. However, the fate of the accused constables is yet to be decided, an insider added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2014.