Inmate hangs himself with drawstring

Accused was in jail on charges of having raped and killed a teenager

LAHORE:

An inmate hanged himself to death with a drawstring in the washroom of the jail, said a spokesman for the police.

Accused Afzal had been in jail on the charges of having raped and killed a 16-year-old boy in Mouza Jalalpur Araiyan of Sharaqpur last month.

Sharaqpur Police Station SHO Abdul Latif Gujjar said that Afzal hanged himself in the washroom of the jail with his drawstring. Prisoners, a sentry and the Muharrar of the police station tried to save the life of the accused, but the accused was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Sheikhupura DPO Faisal Mukhtar took a stern notice of the incident and directed the SP (Investigation) to conduct an immediate inquiry into the incident and strictly punish those found responsible for negligence.

The body of the teenager who Afzal had been accused of having killed was found in the last week of April. According to details, the victim had been abducted and strangled and then struck in the head with a rock and brutally killed.

According to the Sharaqpur Police Station SHO, Abdul Latif Gujjar, the abduction of the victim was reported at 11 pm. They registered an FIR and started investigation. The next morning, the victim’s body was found near Jalalpur Araiyan village.

Police took possession of the body, with DSP Nasir Mushtaq and forensic lab team reaching the spot to gather forensic evidence. According to DSP Mushtaq, foul play came to light only after the postmortem report was completed.

According to the boy’s father, Muhammad Buta, his son had been raped and killed with a rock by unknown persons. He had appealed to the DPO of Sheikhupura to arrest the killers as soon as possible and punish them severely. In November last year, three inmates had attempted suicide in their barracks to allegedly put pressure on the jail administration in Khurrianwala.

Inmates Gulfam, Awais and Aun, along with their acquaintances, had begun a fight with other inmates and vitiated the atmosphere of the prison. They also harassed other inmates of the prison. In order to keep the discipline of the jail, the prison administration had transferred the “rowdy” inmates to cell Number 3.

There the inmates allegedly had themselves injured with blades in an apparent attempt to commit suicide or at least to fool the police into believing in their being serious about killing themselves.

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The jail administration, however, had very tactfully managed to prevent the inmates from killing themselves and to bring the situation into normalcy. However, they registered a case against five accused, including the three “rowdy” detainees, and started an investigation.

In October last year, a woman had tried to commit suicide at a district court in Lahore as she had had no money to fight a legal battle against her husband, who had allegedly raped their daughter.

The accused, Nadeem Shah, had allegedly been raping his own daughter for a long time. The girl had been living with him after a temporary separation between the husband and the wife, Kaneez Bibi. Three of the couple's five children had been living with their mother while two others, including the daughter, were living with their father. A female neighbour had informed that the daughter was being sexually abused by the father.

The girl revealed that her father had been allegedly raping her for a long time and threatened her with dire consequences if she ever told anyone the truth.

The victim’s mother visited the Nisthar Colony Police Station and had an FIR registered against her husband under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code -– which states that whoever commits rape shall be punished with death or imprisonment, and be liable to a fine.

The police arrested the accused, produced him before the magisterial court, and sought physical remand on plea to investigate the matter. The accused was sent to judicial remand after which he filed for bail in the district and sessions court.

On October 26, the complainant tried to commit suicide by dousing herself with petrol. However, police officials and litigants rescued the woman in time.