Police torture: LHC orders inquiry into alleged death in custody

Applicant says police staged encounter to get away with son’s torture, murder.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court has directed the district and sessions judge and the inspector general (IG) of Punjab Police to look into allegations that police officials tortured and killed a 22-year-old man and then sought to pass off his death as the outcome of a shootout.

The LHC took notice of the matter on an application submitted to the Complaints Cell by Ahmad Ali, a resident of Jamil Park, Saggian. He stated that he owned a printing press at which eight employees worked under the supervision of his sons Muzaffar Ali and Mazhar Ali.

One night, he said, his son Mazhar went to attend a friend’s wedding but did not return. The next day, he was informed via telephone by an official at Nawab Town police station that his son had committed a theft.

Ahmad Ali said that when he got to the station, Danish Ranjha, who is in charge of investigations, told him that his son had snatched a purse and injured a police official. The police official warned him that if the injured constable died, his son would face murder charges. He said that he was kept at the police station for three hours and his request to see his son was rejected.



The next day, he said, he went to the police station again at 9am.

He said that the police fed him scary stories for two hours and then took him to Jinnah Hospital, apparently to meet the injured constable, but there was none.

He said that he was kept waiting outside the morgue for four hours, after which a cop told him that his son had been killed in a shootout with the police and his body was in the morgue. Ahmad said that he protested, but the police officials placed his son’s body in an ambulance along with an armed contingent to send home.

Ahmad Ali said that his son’s body bore bruises and burn marks and he had photos to prove it. He said that he believed his son had been kept illegally in detention, tortured and killed. He said that the policemen had staged a shooting to make it look like his son had been killed in an encounter.

He asked for action against Nawab Town SHO Nazir Uppal, ASI Munir Ahmad and Constables Riaz Mohammad, Amir Hayat, Mohammad Latif, Mohammad Ahsan, Abdul Ghafoor, Amir Qayyum, Mohammad Azam and Mohammad Arif.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2013.