Custodial death: PM’s adviser rejects report, asks sessions judge to probe the incident afresh

Ahmed Latif died in Mansehra jail on October 16.

MANSEHRA:

A report on the death of a man who died in Mansehra jail has been rejected by the adviser to the prime minister on human rights.

Mustafa Nawaz Khokha has requested district and sessions judge, Mansehra, to conduct a new inquiry to investigate the incident.

The report, submitted by Inspector General of Prisons Qudratullah Marwat, clearly points out that the true cause of the prisoner’s death has been concealed.

When the advisor contacted the deceased man’s father, Sheikh Latif, he said he had not given any written statement exonerating the authorities of his son’s death.

He claimed he had been asked to sign a blank paper as part of the formalities required for handing over the corpse to him. Thje papers indicate forgery and tampering with documents to hide the cause of the prisoner’s death. Furthermore, no post-mortem report indicating the cause of death has been provided.

Ahmed Latif, who was arrested by the police on October 4, 2011, for stealing blankets from Ayub Teaching Hospital, died in Mansehra jail in unknown circumstances on October 16.

His family members accused officials at the Mirpur Police Station in Abbottabad and jail authorities of torturing the detainee. They also accused the hospital administration of implicating Ahmed in a fake case However, the jail administration denied the charges, saying the man died a natural death.

Ahmed’s case is the second incident of custodial death in which Mirpur police has been implicated. In January 2011, a man by the name of Saqib Khan was arrested in a robbery case by Mirpur police. While Latif lost his life after being transferred to jail, Khan had died at the police station. Jail authorities claimed the death to be a suicide.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2012.