Torture of inmates: Civil Judge to start inquiry today

Medical board will brief a civil judge about the examination of 21 inmates it carried out on Wednesday.


Shamsul Islam April 05, 2012

FAISALABAD:


Toba Tek Singh Senior Civil Judge Adnan Mushtaq will on Friday start recording statements of a five-member medical board about examination of 21 prisoners allegedly tortured by jail officials for their refusal to pay bribes.


The judge will also record statements of the prisoners and the accused prison officials in the course of an inquiry into the allegations.

The prisoners were examined on Wednesday by the board consisting of the executive district officer (Health), the district officer (Health), the medical superintendent of the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital, the district medico-legal officer and the district surgeon.

The examination was ordered by the district and sessions judge.

DHQ hospital medical superintendent Dr Muhammad Hussain told The Express Tribune that the findings would be shared with the civil judge on Friday (today). He said the examination of the prisoners was carried out in accordance with the procedures set out by the law.

The judicial inquiry was launched on the recommendation of Jail Superintendent Naveed Gondal on April 2. Gondal said he had requested the DSJ that the allegations should be investigated by a judge, instead of a departmental inquiry in the matter.

He refused to comment on the allegations, saying that the matter was sub judice. However, he added, he would ensure that any officials found guilty in the inquiry were taken to task.

Gondal said the jail officials were not allowed to torture inmates, let alone do it to extort bribes.

Advocate Saba Bano had independently filed a complaint in the matter with the office of the DSJ on April 1.

The advocate had submitted that prisoners confined in the jail were being forced to pay a ‘nazrana’ to the officials on a regular basis. She had said that prisoners who refused to pay were subjected to torture. “The jail officials brutally punish any inmate who refuses to give in to their demands,” she said. “The only way inmates can avoid these punishments is by arranging the money to pay,” she added. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2012. 

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