Ramzan Ali was allegedly picked up, tortured by Kotnajibullah police on May 30. PHOTO: FILE
HARIPUR: The court of judicial magistrate has demanded a medical examination of a construction worker who was allegedly subjected to custodial abuse within the jurisdiction of Kotnajibullah police station.
It has ordered District Headquarters Teaching Hospital Haripur Medical Superintendent Dr Zakim Khan Wazir to carry out a medical examination of 26-year-old Ramzan Ali who was hospitalised after the incident.
Trail of abuse
Ali, who hails from Kangra Colony, filed a complaint under the Code of Criminal Procedure to the judicial magistrate on Friday. He alleged that he was taken up by Kotnajibullah police at around 11pm on May 30.
After reaching the police station, he said, assistant sub-inspector Altaf, constable Qaisar Javed and an unidentified police official beat him with bamboo sticks, rifle butts, kicked and punched him for several hours.
Ali was left with a swollen left eye and bruises on various parts of his body. This hampered his physical mobility.
According to the construction worker, the policemen repeatedly used expletives against him during the detention.
He added the policemen registered a fake case against him for being drunk and possessing 30 litres of liquor and produced him before the court. Consequently, he was sent on judicial remand to Haripur jail. A day later, he was granted bail by the court. After he obtained bail, he was admitted to the emergency department of District Headquarters Hospital Haripur.
Medical board
Judicial magistrate Sardar Jawad Ahmed issued an order to Wazir on Saturday. He demanded a medical board be constituted to investigate the claims made by the complainant. Wazir said the medical board will examine Ali on Monday. The court has also directed the DPO to conduct an enquiry into the complaint.
Raising doubts
Kotnajibullah SHO Anas Khan was not available for comments despite repeated attempts to contact him. However, one of his colleagues rejected Ali’s complaints. He said if the incident were true and the accused was subject to custodial abuse, he would have used his legal right to inform the judge when he was produced in court after his recorded arrest on May 31. He called the complaint baseless, saying it was an attempt to discredit the police.
Two in a row
This is the second case of alleged torture reported within a week. Earlier, Faizan a resident of Khalabat Township had accused SHO Khalabat Township for subjecting him to torture during illegal detention. He also filed an application in the court of judicial magistrate against the incident.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2016.
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