Daily Times

JHANG: Punjab Police, which is notorious for extrajudicial killings in the country, has this time killed another poor labourer by torturing him during the investigation of a burglary incident, according to a case lodged against seven police officers.

According to details of the case, Muhammad Jehangir, son of Dildar Lakhnana, was arrested by sub-inspector Yaqub Baluch on suspicions of burglary and was kept in the police lock-up at Choki Ahmedabad that falls under the jurisdiction of Police Station Kotwali, tehsil Jhang.

The accused Jehangir who earned the livelihood for his siblings by doing different types of working the day and at the night worked as security guard at the local market where the incident of burglary happened, according to the accounts of local people who spoke with Daily Times on the condition of not disclosing their identities due to fear and terror of the local police.

Ghulam Abbas brother of the deceased said that local police sub-inspector Yaqub Baluch arrested Jehangir merely on suspicions at the behest of the local traders who wanted to settle their former scores by implicating him in a case of burglary.

To please the local political personalities, district police officer Hammyun Masood Sindho directed SI Yaqub Baluch to use primitive methods of investigation against the accused Jehangir in order to get the facts of the incidents and to finalise the investigation as early as possible, a privy to the case said.

DPO Jhang, Sindho, who is already facing a parliamentary inquiry for protecting the criminal elements who have wrought havoc to the areas and to disparage the honour of local member parliament Sahibazda Nasir Sultan, by conducting raids at his residence on the pretext of arresting the bandits near the shrine of Baho Sultan a spiritual personality.

DPO Sindho who had allegedly loosened hell on the poor people of the area at the behest of the political bosses, also urged the investigation officers to use all unfair methods of inquiry and to satisfy the applicants.

The accused Jehangir had to endure police torture for more than 15 days but at the end he died at the lock-up of the police Choki Ahmdabad under the custody of the police.

A police constable divulged  that he used to hear the crying of  Jehangir in the cold winter of December when he was tortured and he used to seek  mercy from the cruel police officer.

After the death of the accused, the police tried to give another colour to the incident by saying that Jehangir was a bandit and his colleagues killed him when they fell out over the distribution of bounty but this tactic failed to impress the heirs of the deceased.

The heirs of the decease strongly protested over the killing of their loved one and demanded of the police to hand over the dead body for autopsy and also called for registering a criminal case against the police officer who tortured him to death.

The police officers who were reluctant to handover the body to his heirs for conducting the postmortem at the local hospitals, at last agreed to give the dead body after two days under the pressure of the protest.

The autopsy report confirmed that deceased Jehangir was killed by police torture and directed the police officer concerned to lodge an FIR under the provision of 302 PPC etc.

Now the case has been registered against five police officers, including SI Yaqub Baluch, constables Shahid Adnan, Imdad Hussain, Zubair, Ansar Iqbal and two civilians Imran Riaz Baluch and Khalid Mehmood, on the charges of murdering while under the custody of the police.

The irony is that the police officers named in the case are still holding their posts in the same police station and are now hounding the heirs of the deceased to take back their case.

Ghulam Abbas a real brother of the deceased told Daily Times that these policemen were now harassing them and using unethical tactics to pressurise them for not pursuing the case vigorously  andwere also allegedly threatening them  of dire consequences.

He also called upon the chief justice of Pakistan to took suomoto notice of the killing of their brother and dispense justice which is being impeded.

While talking to Daily Times SHO KotwaliPolice Station MrAbidsaid that Jehangir was a notorious criminal and was wanted in different cases but he did not respond when asked if any criminal case against him was lodged.

DPO Sindho was approached for his comment on the murder under police custody but he did not respond as well.