Investigation begins into claims that detainee was tortured to death

Muneer Bozdar was arrested by police for allegedly tearing up a political party’s poster.

SUKKUR: Five days after a member of the Bozdar community succumbed to injuries that were reportedly inflicted on him by the Jarwar police, Ghotki SSP formed a three-member committee to investigate the alleged incident.

However, the impartiality of the committee appears to be in question, as its members include the SHO of the Jarwar police station, where the incident reportedly took place.



Muneer Ahmed Bozdar, a resident of Jindo Bozdar village, was reportedly arrested by police last Friday, who had accused him of tearing up the poster of a political party. Mushtaq Bozdar and Abdul Rasheed Bozdar, the brother and cousin of the deceased, respectively, had told the media earlier this week that law enforcers had arrested Munir on the complaint of Muhammad Essa and Khalil Ahmed.

They said that police had tortured Munir while he was in their custody, and that he was complaining about pain in the stomach and lower back when he was released on Sunday.

Muneer succumbed to injuries within a couple of hours, they claimed.

Meanwhile, the men on whose complaint the law enforcers had taken Muneer into custody, have apparently gone into hiding.



On Thursday, Mirpur Mathelo DSP Hafiz Abdul Qadir Chachar, who is part of the three-member committee formed by Ghotki SSP, told The Express Tribune that the statements of relatives of the deceased, as well as residents of the Jindo Bozdar village, had been recorded, while further investigations were underway.

Other members of the team include Jarwar police station SHO Asadullah Pathan, and sub-inspector Hadi Bux Bozdar.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2013.