Sialkot police kills an old man in illegal custody

On Wednesday, Lahore High Court Complaint Cell took notice of a press report on administrative side regarding death of a 65-year-old man in police custody.

The Cell has directed the District & Sessions Judge, Sialkot to look into the matter and submit a detailed report regarding steps taken by police along with his own comments within a week.

According to details, police raided at a house to arrest an alleged criminal, Rashid alias Bhola, wanted in double murder case but could not find him. Instead police picked Mahmood Ahmad, father of Bhola, for allegedly sheltering his son and took him to Pasrur City police station where they tortured the old man to death.

Victim’s family staged a demonstration in Pasrur city by placing the body in front of Civil Hospital and demanded a murder case against the policemen. Senior police officials negotiated with the protesting people and assured them of action against the accused police officials. The family told media that the police brutally tortured Mahmood. They said instead of arresting Rashid in a two-year-old double murder case, the police arrested and killed his father.

However, no case was registered of the killing of the aged man as the police were awaiting the postmortem report. Sialkot District Police Officer Muhammad Gohar Nafees denied police torture and added he had ordered a departmental probe into the matter to be carried out by SP (Investigation) Asad Sarfraz Khan.