Custodial torture: Court promised lists of absconding officials’ properties

Officials accused of torturing a man to death are in hiding.

LAHORE:

Additional District and Sessions Judge Rai Muhammad Ayub Khan Marth on Friday, fixed July 4 for submission of detailed lists of properties of three absconding police officials accused of torturing a man to death.

The bails granted to these officials, Assistant Sub-Inspector Shakeel Ahmed Butt and Constables Muhammad Ahsan and Mahboob Elahi by a subordinate court have been dismissed by the Lahore High Court.

On Friday, ASI Muhammad Yousuf of Hadiara police station appeared before the court and assured the judge that he would produce the lists at the next hearing.

At previous hearings, the judge had directed the CIA SP to produce the accused. If they were not produced, the SP would appear in person to explain the failure. However, neither the accused were produced, nor the SP showed up.

The judge had also directed the CCPO to depute an officer not below the rank of DSP to arrest the accused and produce them before the court. Instead, the Hadiara SHO submitted a report saying that the accused had gone into hiding and there was not much chance that they would be arrested anytime soon. The court had then initiated proceedings under Section 87 of CPC. On January 18, the Ghaziabad CIA officials had raided the house of the deceased, Niamat Ali, to arrest him for his alleged role in a criminal case. When they did not find Ali, they took Asif and Aamir to the police station and told them to produce Ali. The complainant, Muhammad Munir, then took Ali to the police station and asked that Asif and Aamir be freed.



Munir said police had told him that Ali would be released the following day. The complainant said when he went to the police station the next day he found out that Ali had been tortured. Munir said the police also refused to release Ali. He said a few days later, the police called him and told him to take Ali away. The complainant said Ali died on his way home.

When his family members and neighbours took to the streets to protest against police, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the matter and a case was registered against the officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2013.