Daily Times

A legislative body of the Upper House of Parliament on Monday said that no person should be subjected to torture for the purpose of extracting evidence but sadly custodial torture and killings have become a norm in police department.

Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Rehman Malik said that although the constitution does provide protection of every kind but it has never defined any punishment to police officials involved in torture. He said it is need of the hour that another law defining stringent punishment should be made and implemented against torture and custodial killings. He said he has prepared 26-points proposal which he will be sharing with Ministry of Interior, Law Division and Police IGs of four provinces seeking their recommendations for framing the said law.

The committee directed the Punjab IG Police to give standing instructions to all SHOs to refrain from all kinds of torture at police stations. “We have to create a citizen-friendly environment in our police stations by ending the practice of torture for the purpose of extracting evidence and recovery,” he observed.

The committee was briefed by Punjab IGP in detail about the death of Salahuddin. He assured the committee that justice will be done in the case and requested that the sincerity of police in pursuing the case may not be doubted.

Taking the matter of rape and killing of children in Kasur, Senator Rehman Malik told the IGP that people across country are very concerned about rapid increase in kidnapping, rape and killing of minors in Kasur. He said it is another serious challenge for Punjab Police and he hopes that police will unearth the gang behind this heinous crime. He said committee will be taking a briefing on the issue in the next meeting.

The committee was also briefed by Islamabad IGP about the prevailing law and order situation in the federal capital and the performance and achievements of Islamabad Police. The committee paid rich tribute to the martyrs of Islamabad Police and all provincial police forces of the country. The IGP told the committee that Islamabad Police was facing shortage of policemen as fresh recruitments had been halted since 2004. However, recently the prime minister has sanctioned appointment of 1,280 personnel for which test and interviews have been conducted and soon the recruits will be sent to training, he added.

The committee expressed annoyance over the alleged incident of sexual assault of a prisoner and negligence shown by jail officials in Adiala Jail. The IG Prison Punjab briefed the committee about the alleged incident and said that he took notice of the incident as soon as he received information and directed DIG Prisons Rawalpindi to look into the matter. The DIG Prisons told the committee that the alleged sexually assaulted prisoner is 21 years old and is in jail along with his father. He said the father had sent him to another barrack willingly which is against the jail manual. He said during the investigation, the medial team sent by the magistrate did not find any evidence of rape. The DIG Prisons told the committee that a total of 11 officials from Adiala Jail have been suspended for their negligence in stopping the prisoner being shifted to another barrack.

The committee expressed dissatisfaction over the briefing and directed that the matter should be investigated further and a detailed report be presented in the next meeting along with presence of DPO Rawalpindi as police is carrying out the investigation on the orders of additional district and sessions judge.

Senators Javed Abbasi, Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Dr Shehzad Waseem, Kalsoom Parveen, Sardar Shafiq Tareen, Momin Khan Afridi also attended.