Police ‘high-handedness’: Court asks AKU doctors to collect evidence from MQM ‘torture’ victim

Despite AKUH lacking forensic experts, it has been assigned the responsibility.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) reiterated its orders to the Aga Khan University Hospital on Tuesday to nominate senior doctors or surgeons for the medical board constituted by the government to examine the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker who was allegedly tortured in custody.

Headed by Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, the bench passed this direction when the hospital's lawyer informed that the health facility has no forensic expert for the board.

Liaquat Merchant, AKUH's lawyer, told the judges that on February 22 the court had asked the hospital's chairperson to nominate four senior surgeons for the medical board constituted by the Sindh government to examine the victim. After the order, he said the medical superintendents of the services hospital and civil surgeon of the Karachi have approached the AKUH chairperson to nominate four persons - a physician, a surgeon, a dental surgeon and a forensic expert.

"The university is ready and willing to give its experts for the board, however, the difficulty in doing so is that they don't have any forensic expert on their roll," the lawyer explained. He said, however, that out of four senior members originally constituted for the board, two are forensic experts.

"Keeping in view the above, we don't find any difficulty in the university nominating doctors as requested by the medical superintendent, except for the forensic expert, in whose place the chairperson of the university may nominate any other doctor/professors, as he may deem fit," said the judges. Merchant expressed his satisfaction, submitting that the required nomination would be made within a day.

Case history

MQM activist Fahad Aziz and his father, Abduld Aziz, had gone to the court alleging the police authorities had subjected the worker to  inhumane torture during detention. Fahad said that police officials had arrested him while he was accompanying his bride back to the home after their wedding ceremony, and was subjected to torture.

The MQM had alleged in the plea that around eight of its party workers have been killed while over 45 have gone missing.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2014.