A Lahore High Court judge on Thursday ordered an inquiry into the alleged torture of two convicted prisoners on death row in Adiala Jail.
Justice Ijaz Ahmed of the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench directed District and Sessions Judge (DSJ) Nazir Ahmed Gajana to look into the petition filed by Abdul Shakoor and Asif Shah, who claim that they were severely beaten up by jail staff after they refused to pay them Rs3,000 “forced monthly money”.
The medical board of District Headquarters (DHQ) hospital has confirmed injuries on the bodies of the two petitioners. The LHC had directed the hospital to examine the petitioners.
The jail staffers denied the allegations levelled against them when they appeared before LHC on Wednesday. They said they were being targeted for not allowing the prisoners to break the law and for maintaining discipline in the jail.
Shakoor’s father, Abdul Hafeez, had filed a plea before the LHC against the Adiala Jail acting Superintendent Noorul Hassan Bhagela, Assistant Superintendent Mazhar and other jail staffers for beating up his son and Shah on July 10.
The petitioners through their lawyer Ilyas Siddiqi, contended that under the law, jail authorities are barred from physically abusing under-trial or convicted prisoners.
The two petitioners, Shakoor and Shah, are convicted in a murder case registered with the Kohsar police in Islamabad on December 14, 2000. They are serving life term in Adiala Jail.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2011.
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and we trust or atleast are supposed to trust them to protect us...