Inmate’s death: Court orders new investigation into July 13 prison riot

An under-trial prisoner, Khaskheli, was killed and 12 personnel of the jail police and three prisoners were injured.

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh High Court has ordered a renewed investigation into the Central Jail operation on July 13 as a judicial inquiry report failed to ‘fix the responsibility’.

The district and sessions court has been directed to present a report which implicates those who were responsible for triggering the riots. The court, on Wednesday, summoned Hyderabad SSP Pir Farid Jan Sarhandi and Jail Superintendent Qazi Nazir Ahmed, on August 17.

An under-trial prisoner, Sajid Khaskheli, was killed and 12 personnel of the jail police and three prisoners were injured as the inmates took control of the prison compound. They were enraged by the reasons which have yet to be officially determined even though the prisoners and jail police blame each other.

Earlier, the judicial investigation conducted by the second additional district and sessions judge, Aijaz Khaskheli, recorded the statements of 42 people. They include the police and prison police officers, inmates and journalists.

The deputy inspector general of jail police, Gulzar Channa, had told the inquiry judge that the prisoners tried to break the walls and beat fellow inmates, who resisted them. The police resorted to aerial firing and shelling to contain the situation.

Manzoor Ali Jamali, a prisoner who was released a few days after the operation, blamed the police for letting Khaskheli die after he was hit by a bullet. “He lay there [in the prison compound] for hours before he was shifted to Civil hospital where he was pronounced dead,” he told the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2012.