Tortured to death: Police continue no-show in murder case

Judge again directs senior police officials to arrest ASI, constables.

LAHORE:

Additional District and Sessions Judge Rai Muhammad Ayub Khan Marth has again asked the police to arrest and produce in court an assistant sub inspector (ASI) and two constables accused of torturing a man to death.

The judge had already cancelled the bails and issued arrest warrants for the accused, but ASI Shakeel Ahmed Butt and Constables Muhammad Ahsan and Mahboob Elahi are yet to be produced in court.

At a previous hearing, the judge directed the capital city police officer (CCPO) to assign an officer not below the rank of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) to arrest the accused and bring them to court, but that did not happen either.

On Friday, the judge again directed the CCPO to order a Crimes Investigation Agency (CIA) superintendent of police to arrest the three cops and produce them in court on December 14.

According to the complainant in the case, the ASI and two constables, who were with the Ghaziabad CIA, illegally detained a man and tortured him for several days, as a result of which he later died.

The complainant, Muhammad Munir, said that the three policeman conducted a raid at the residence of Niamat Ali on January 18. Ali was not home so the policemen took two men named Amir and Asif into custody and told the complainant that they would be released when Ali was brought to the police station.

The complainant said that they took Ali to the police station upon which the other two were released. The police officials told them to pick up Ali the next day.

The complainant said that when he went to the police station the next day, the police still refused to release him, even though Ali was not nominated as a suspect in any criminal case. He said that a few days later, the police let Ali go. But he was in critical condition and died shortly after, he said.

Friends and family of the deceased later staged a protest on the street, coming to the attention of the chief minister, who ordered that a case be registered against the police officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2012.