Heavy-handedness: Police accused of illegal detention and torture

Victim’s father claims his son was severely beaten up while in custody .

ABBOTABAD:

When Abid Khan heard the police were looking for his son, he decided to be a responsible citizen and turn Abrar in. Moments later, Abrar would allegedly be stripped naked and hung upside down as officers thrashed him with a whip and bamboo sticks.

Hazara Range DIG Akhtar Hayat Gandapur ordered an enquiry into the case after Abid complained that his 21-year-old son was detained and tortured without the arrest being recorded, said official sources.

In his written complaint, Abid recalled that unidentified bandits broke into the house of a man named Zulfikar in Kaghan Colony. He claimed that after looting the premises, the robbers dropped a picture of his son to frame him.

The father said he took Abrar to Mirpur police station when he heard the law enforcers were looking for him. That is when, according to Abid, things turned ugly and the police illegally detained his son to forcefully extract a confession. Abrar was reportedly kept at the police station illegally for four days.

“They beat him with a whip, hung him upside down naked and also intermittently hit his private parts with bamboo sticks,” he said. He told the DIG that when his elder son Mohsin Khan took lunch for Abrar the next day, the police also beat him and used abusive language.

Abid said the policemen also did not allow him to see his son and only produced the suspect before a judicial magistrate after pressure from influential figures. Abrar was then remanded in police custody for two days and sent to Mansehra District Jail at the end of the same period.

“I met my son after 16 days and he is so demoralised. He refuses to make eye contact and frequently cries over the humiliation he faced,” Abid said. The father added the inhumane treatment ruined the life of his son, who recently started working at the office of a local patwari because he was interested in the land business.

Abid, who works as a painter, said it was impossible to bear the litigation expenses of his son’s case as he has a family of six to support.

The complainant demanded that the officials who tortured his son be punished. As a result, the DIG called investigation officer Inspector Fazalur Rehman, Sub-Inspector Fida Khan and Constable Fangraish Khan to the police lines and ordered Havelian Assistant Superintendent, Kashif Zulfiqar, to conduct an enquiry. Mirpur police confirmed the arrest of Abrar Khan, but said they were unaware of any disciplinary action being taken against their officers.

In a separate case, Lal Asfar was hospitalised after he was allegedly tortured by the police.

His brother Akbar Khan said the police picked up Asfar after the complaint of Kala Khan, with whom they had a family property dispute. Akbar said his 49-year-old brother was subjected to severe brutality and suffered internal injuries to the stomach and kidney.

He added that the police took Asfar to the Haripur Women and Children Hospital where he was undergoing treatment. Akbar claimed Bir SHO Ishtiaq has threatened him of dire consequences if he pursued his brother’s case.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2014.