Prisoner’s Torture Plea: Case against jail officials sought

LAHORE: Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Rao Abdul Jabar on Saturday directed the station house officer concerned to register a first information report (FIR) against the superintendent, the deputy superintendent, a medical officer and a warden of Kot Lakhpat Jail, as well as the inspector general for prisons and the deputy inspector general for prisons, on a prisoner’s complaint that he had been tortured. The judge warned the SHO that if he did not register the FIR, one would be filed against him under Section 155 C of the Police Order of 2002. ADSJ Musharraf Hassan Sumara had earlier directed the Kot Lakhpat SHO to record the statement of petitioner Dr Faheem Raza and investigate the case. But the SHO did not comply, the petitioner said. He then filed a petition before Judge Jabar seeking compliance with the court’s orders.  Raza says that he was tortured shortly after he discovered a human finger in food served at the prison last Ramazan and then told the press about it.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2011.