Daily Times

In the aftermath of Salahudin’s death in Punjab police custody, the custodial torture has become a burning issue. It remained a part of the media campaign throughout last month. Since this topic concerns me greatly, I have decided to pen some thoughts on it. How effective they are, only you can tell, my readers.

Death of Salahudin in the custody of Punjab police soon turned into a hot topic for debates.

Being a part of the KPK police, I’m absolutely not in favour of custodial torture. I’d term this an inhumane act any day.

However, I don’t think the police alone are responsible for this travesty of justice. The general public, media–electronic, press and specifically social– are also major contributory factors behind such incident. Without any confirmation, they go on to exaggerate small and false cases, which later pressurises an investigation officer to get hasty results despite low sources and facilities to put an end to the propaganda. For decades, the police in Pakistan has been carrying out investigations of different cases using traditional ways.

Well, since the custodial torture is so concerning, so should be the similar practice of mob justice. The public has often been seen pushing an alleged man into the mound of death over accusations of minor crimes, especially theft. We have a recent example from Karachi where a child was stabbed to death over accusations of theft. The minor died in the custody of the citizens, not the police!

Surely, many such accused have tasted the favour of death at the hands of the public, which continue to go unreported.

Since the custodial torture is so concerning, so should be the similar practice of mob justice

This is an undeniable fact that every country’s police force has modern technological sources. They have psychologists and psychiatrists in each police station along with facilities to carry out investigations scientifically. They further have a specific team allotted for all specified crimes.

Despite all these measures, several accused have died in or following police custody in these very countries. The torch-bearers of civil rights, the US and the UK, are also included in this list.

There were as many as 14 deaths in or following police custody in England and Wales in 2015-16, in line with the average for the last seven years, but lower than the levels seen in the late 1990s and early 2000s, according to statistics collected by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

23 people died in or following police custody in 2017-18 (the highest in 10 years) in England and Wales, as per the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

We all know that these developed countries’ police forces are provided with every facility through which they can carry out investigations in modern ways.

Contrary to this, the Pakistani police are deprived of modern investigation facilities, even in this 21st century. Neither are there psychologists present in police stations nor lie detector machines to differ between the false and true statements said by the accused in police custody. In my three-year-tenure, I have never seen that an accused is examined by a doctor or taken for psych evaluation before being taken into custody. Why, you may wonder? Because there are no psychologists/psychiatrists available in any police station.

Now when a single police investigation officer acts as a doctor, psychologist and psychiatrist combined, such situations do not come as much surprise.

The accused might be feeling unwell. However, his complaints can well be perceived by an investigation officer as manoeuvring a drama or an attempt to deceive him. This is largely because an investigation officer has not been given the training to do a psych-evaluation of an accused.

It is high time to provide facilities of modern investigation to the police, including the services of psychologists and psychiatrists, who could help an investigation officer differentiate between truth and false. Meanwhile, modern training should also be given to investigation officers so that these cases may not take place again and precious lives can be saved.

The writer serves in KP Police