In protest: Doctors demand judicial inquiry into MLO’s alleged torture

Say they have no confidence in the police inquiry as the department will be biased.

KARACHI: Medico-legal officers at the three major public hospitals in Karachi have consented to resume their duties after assurances from the provincial government that the police officials involved in the alleged kidnapping and torture of Dr Shehzad Ali will be taken to task.

They have warned, however, to continue the protest until the inquiry is completed and asked the authorities to suspend all the police personnel involved in the incident. Further, the medico-legal officers have demanded a separate judicial inquiry into the incident, as they believe the police inquiry will be biased. "The police are themselves involved the case and they are conducting the inquiry which is unacceptable," said an MLO at Civil Hospital, Karachi, Dr Nisar Ahmed Shah.



The controversy began on Sunday when Dr Shehzad Ali, a medico-legal officer at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, claimed he was kidnapped and tortured by police personnel in plain clothes. "I was kidnapped and subjected to inhumane torture for not agreeing to tamper with the post-mortem report of a police-encounter casualty," said Dr Ali, in a press conference on Sunday.

Meanwhile Central-West DIG Tahir Naveed recorded Dr Ali's statement regarding the incident on Monday. "The inquiry will take some time," said Naveed. He added that the statement has been recorded and that some of Dr Ali's colleagues will also be called in for their statements in the case.

Are other MLOs being threatened by the police or other law enforcement agencies? Naveed said he was not aware of such threats. He clarified that it was not even in his knowledge that doctors were pressured to manipulate post-mortem reports, as claimed by Dr Ali. "We will definitely provide him security if he asks for it," said the police official.

On Monday, the medico-legal officers at the three largest public hospitals - the JPMC, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Civil Hospital, Karachi - wore black armbands as a mark of protest. "Let's see what the inquiry finds," said Dr Kaleem Shaikh, a senior MLO and a colleague of Dr Ali. "We will certainly demand a judicial inquiry into the matter if the report is found to be partial." Dr Shah added that the protest will continue until the demands were met.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2015.