Police torture innocent man to death

ISLAMABAD:

As Majid stood outside the police station, he could hear his brother scream for mercy. And for water.

There was not much he could do – but a helpless Majid knew his brother was innocent.

He hoped his brother would survive what many have come to accept as regular practice long enough for that fact to be established.

He didn’t.

The police in Islamabad tortured a man to death during interrogation, only to later declare him innocent.

Suspected in a kidnapping case, Saadat Ali, 32, died of heart failure while in custody of the Sabzi Mandi police, an autopsy report revealed on Saturday.

“There were torture marks on his feet and his small back,” said a hospital official privy to the report. At 5-foot-2, weighing only 50 kilogrammes, Saadat didn’t stand much chance.

Saadat’s confinement, itself, raises a few eyebrows as not only was he willing to cooperate with the police, but there was also no evidence gathered against him. In fact, all police officers involved, including the SP and the ASP, admitted, on the record, that Saadat was innocent.

‘Kidnapping’

The father of four, along with his government job, also worked part-time as a carpenter to make ends meets. Three months ago, the son of a maid who worked in the same house Saadat was employed at went missing.

The owner of the house, who is the deputy director of a water and sanitation agency in Gujranwala, and his sons, registered a complaint against Saadat, accusing him of kidnapping the boy.

Saadat’s own brother, Majid, handed him over to the police at the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) police station Friday evening.

Majid claimed that his brother was confronted by the owner of this house and his sons earlier, but he had maintained his innocence.

ASI Sabzi Mandi Gul Khan, the investigation officer, told Majid his brother was taken to the office of the Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) to question him over his phone record.

Majid was kept waiting outside the SDPO’s office while the police were interrogating Saadat. “I kept calling ASI Khan and asked him to let me talk to my brother but I was asked to go home and come back in the morning,” Majid said.

Later at night, Majid was informed by the SHO that Saadat was shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) hospital. He rushed to the hospital, only to find his brother’s body in the mortuary.

The on-duty doctor at Pims said Saadat was brought in critical condition close to midnight. Despite all efforts, however, they were unable to keep him alive.

A post-mortem conducted by a medical board confirmed that Saadat was tortured in ‘traditional’ police style and his frail body could not bear it.

The Sabzi Mandi SHO, responsible by law to supervise every interrogation in his station, claimed he was not aware of Saadat’s confinement and torture. A source in the police station, on the condition of anonymity, claimed that ASI Khan held a personal grudge against Saadat.

Eight policemen booked

On Majid’s complaint, a murder case has been registered against eight police officials, including the SP Ishaq Warraich, ASP Dr Khalil Ahmed, SHO Asjad Ali and ASI Gul Khan.

Majid wrote in his complaint that he heard his brother’s screams from inside the police station. “He was pleading for mercy and was asking for water,” Majid wrote in the FIR.

A police official on the condition of anonymity said, “He was visibly shivering and sweating in the police station. He asked ASI Khan many times not to shoot him.”

Meanwhile, Abid Ikram has been appointed the new SHO of the Sabzi Mandi police station, while Habibullah Khan Niazi was given the charge of SDPO Industrial Area.

However, the track record of Muhammad Shafiq, the police officer trusted with investigations into Saadat’s death, remains suspicious.

Shafiq made a failed attempted of getting rid of a murder case of a student on Friday by shifting the body out of his jurisdiction. A few years ago, he was also accused of a suspect’s death in his police station.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2012.