Indian fisherman dies in Karachi jail

On Feb 4, an under-trial Indian fisherman, Kishore Bhagwan Bahi, dies in prison under mysterious circumstances.

KARACHI: An under-trial Indian fisherman, Kishore Bhagwan Bahi, died in prison under mysterious circumstances on Tuesday.

Bahi was among the 54 Indian fishermen arrested by the Maritime Security Agency for straying into Pakistan’s Exclusive Economic Zone. He was jailed on January 29, 2013, but later escaped.

He was re-arrested by the PIB Colony police of district East in Karachi and imprisoned.

There were unconfirmed reports that the deceased was tortured to death by jail officials.  “He died a natural death,” Jails IGP Nusrat Mangan told The Express Tribune.

Jail officials said Bahi was unwell. “Our doctors tried to treat him as much as they could,” Landhi Jail deputy superintendent Shuja Haider said. “There are a number of Indian fishermen imprisoned in the jail. All are fine. There was no reason to torture him (alone).”

The body was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for autopsy, where doctors said they did not find any marks of torture. A medical board comprising judicial magistrate and police surgeon is being constituted to conduct the post-mortem.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2014.