Torture: Order for case against jail officials suspended

Duty judge exceeded authority by passing strict orders, says ADSJ.

LAHORE:

An additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) has suspended another ADSJ’s orders that a case be registered against jail authorities for allegedly torturing a prisoner.

Judge Muhammad Saleem suspended the order of ADSJ Rao Abdul Jabbar on Monday, saying a duty judge was not authorised to give “such strict orders”.

He said the order had been issued in haste without hearing the other side. The court was hearing a miscellaneous application moved against Jabbar’s order.

Prisoner Dr Faheem Raza first filed a petition in ADSJ Musharraf Hussain Sumra’s court seeking the registration of a case against the Kot Lakhpat jail authorities for allegedly torturing him after he told the press that he had found human flesh in his food.

At the last hearing, Judge Sumra was on leave and Judge Jabbar heard the matter as duty judge. Jabbar directed the station house officer concerned to register a case against the superintendent and deputy superintendent of the jail, the IG and DIG for prisons and others.

The court suspended Jabbar’s orders and issued notice to the respondents for June 14 to record their statements.

According to the prisoner, after he informed the press that he had found a human finger in his food, he was shifted to a separate cell, drugged and deprived of food and sleep.

He says the deputy superintendent of the jail pulled out his toenails with a pair of pliers.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2011.