Police brutality: Medical examination of torture victim ordered

Rukhsar Shah claims policeman allegedly detained, tortured him when he went to submit bail papers.

HARIPUR: A sessions court judge has ordered the medical superintendent (MS) of District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Haripur to medically examine a man who has accused the police of illegally detaining and torturing him. Police have denied the allegations.

Twenty-three-year-old Rukhsar Shah, a resident of Hattar village, submitted an application to the district and sessions judge on Friday claiming Hattar police implicated him in a fake case, showing they had found a pistol and bullets in his house during a raid a few days ago.

Showing bruises and injuries on his body, Shah told the court he had obtained bail before arrest and went to Hattar police station to submit his bail papers on Wednesday but the officials detained him illegally.

According to Shah, policeman Asad Saeed locked him in a room and mercilessly hit him with bamboo sticks, leaving his upper back bleeding. The complainant further claimed the illegal custodial torture resulted in the fracture of a toe on his foot and left his right arm swollen.

Shah also accused Saeed of disrobing him, keeping him in isolation and depriving him of sleep for the entire night as well as using abusive language and threatening him.

The next morning, Shah managed to secure his release with the intervention of some notables and submitted an application with the local magistrate seeking legal action against the accused policeman.

“On the court’s order, a medical officer on duty at the casualty department of Women and Children Hospital examined me but due to police pressure he told me I did not have any severe injuries,” Shah told the court and later the media.

According to Shah’s lawyer, Advocate Shahid Shah, the sessions court has ordered the DHQ MS to conduct another medical check-up. “If torture is proven, the court could order that a criminal case be registered against the policeman who violated the rights of the detainee,” he said.

DHQ Hospital MS Dr Zakim Khan has admitted Shah to the hospital and formed a medical board to check Shah and submit its report on Saturday (today).

On the other hand, the Hattar police SHO denied the allegations levelled by the complainant. He said two cases of drug peddling against Shah are under trial and on February 14, another case was registered against him and his relatives for threatening policeman Ali Afzal and interfering in his work when Afzal had gone to his house to serve court summons.

The SHO further said following the incident, the police raided Shah’s house and seized 37 bullets along with a 30-bore unlicenced pistol, but could not arrest him because he had escaped.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2015.