LAHORE: The Lahore High Court chief justice (CJ), Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, on Saturday took suo motu notice of the death of a prisoner in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi.
The relatives of Hameed, 18, alleged that he died from torture at the hands of the jail officials.
The CJ summoned the jail superintendent for appearance on August 2 and directed him to produce the deceased’s post mortem report along with details of the incident.
He took notice of a report in an English daily which stated that the Adiala Jail officials had beaten Hameed to death. The report stated that the relatives of the deceased were barred from seeing the body at the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital.
The family said that Hamid, a labourer, was returning from work when the police arrested him on failure to produce his identity card. They alleged that the police asked them to pay Rs20,000 in bribe and registered a false drug-trafficking case against the boy on their refusal to pay.
During Saturday’s proceeding, Khawaja Sharif observed, “Jails are a state institution. They are for the protection and refinement of the law-breakers. They should serve as nurseries to transform the prisoners into productive citizens of the society and not to take their lives by excessive physical torture.”
The CJ further observed that a murder on the jail premises was shocking. The judiciary, being an important pillar of the state, needed to perform its constitutional duty and probe the case.
He directed the advocate general to ensure compliance of his order and appear before the court on August 2 to assist it in the matter.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 1st, 2010.
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