Police vow thorough probe into custodial deaths

Police on Tuesday defended their handling of a case of the death of two women at Township police station, saying a judicial inquiry and an interim post-mortem examination had so far found no apparent marks of torture on the bodies, while the DNA and other forensic reports were still awaited.

Addressing a press conference, Lahore CCPO Bilal Siddique Kamyana, DIG Operations Faisal Kamran and DIG Investigations Zeeshan Raza said no aspect of the case would be left uninvestigated.

According to the police account of the day, a call was received on the emergency helpline 15 at around 2:55pm regarding an alleged swindling incident in the Township area. The police reached the location at 3:11pm, while the complainant arrived at about 4:00pm.

The FIR against the two women was registered at 4:50pm, after which custody was transferred from the operations to investigation wing at around 5:20pm.

The women were handed over to the investigation wing moharrar at approximately 5:30pm.

The police said the women's condition began deteriorating around 15 minutes later, prompting officials to call Rescue 1122.

The women were shifted from the police station to Jinnah Hospital at around 7:00pm, where they were declared dead.

The police said the identification process was initially delayed because the women did not have their CNICs. Investigators traced them through their photographs and names using the Criminal Record Office (CRO).

The officials said two previous cases were found registered against the women at Dinga police station in Gujrat in 2023 and Lahore Factory Area in 2024.

Investigators then got a lead regarding another woman in Rawalpindi, which helped them trace the de-ceased women's families in Pakpattan.

The police said the post-mortem examination had been delayed because the deceased did not have identification documents and their legal heirs had not initially been located. The examination was con-ducted after the families were available.

Since the deaths had occurred after the women had been brought into custody, the police requested a magistrate to conduct an inquiry under Section 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code.