Death of Salah U din in Punjab police custody had turned to be a hot topic for debates.
Being the part KPK police, i’m totally not in favor of custodial torture and I’d term this is an inhuman act, but I don’t think so if the police are responsible for this alone. General public, electronic, press and specifically social media are also contributory factors of such incidents as they without confirming make a big issue of small and false cases which later pressurize an investigation officer to get hasty results despite low sources and facilities in order to shut the propaganda. For decades the police in Pakistan have been carrying out investigation of different cases using traditional ways.
Well, since the custodial torture is concerned so the public practice the same in theft of even some less amount of money an alleged’s life is pushed into the death mouth. We have a recent example from Karachi where a kid was stabbed to death in allegations of theft and that kid died in the custody of the citizens. Not of the police! Surely many such accused would have tasted the death flavor at the hands of public which might have gone unreported.
This is an undeniable fact that very country’s police have modern technological sources. They have a psychologists and psychiatrists in each police station, and facilities of carrying out investigation via scientific ways, as well as a specific team for a specific crime are allotted to them. Despite all these in many countries accused have expired in or following police custody among them America and British are also included.
There were 14 deaths in or following police custody in England and Wales in 2015/16, in
line with the average for the last 7 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).
Twenty-three people have died in or following police custody in 2017/18, the highest in 10 years in England and wales
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
We all know that these developed countries’ police are provided every facility via which they could carry out investigation in modern ways.
It is high time to avail facilities of modern investigation to police, provide the services of psychologists and psychiatrist to every police station who could help an investigation officer to differ between truth and false
Contrary to this, the Pakistani police in this 21st century are deprived of such modern investigation facilities. Neither there are psychologists in police stations nor there they have a lie detector machine to differ between the false and truth of the accused being in police custody. In tenure of my 3 years service, I have not seen this if an accused, before taking into custody, has ever been apparently examined or any doctor has ever checked his psycho or the accused have ever been taken to the psychiatrist. Why? Because there are no psychologists/ psychiatrists in any police station.
Now when a police investigation officer at time act as a doctor, psychologist and psychiatrist so there facing such situations are not a big deal and is not much surprising. The accused would not be feeling good but the police investigation officer would think if the accused is maneuvering drama and trying to deceiving him to get off scot-free. And investigation officers also has not been given the training to judge the psycho of an accused which remains a spot on the investigation of police of this modern age.
It is high time to avail facilities of modern investigation to police, provide the services of psychologists and psychiatrist to every police station who could help an investigation officer to differ between truth and false. As well as modern training to be given to investigation officers so that such cases may not take place again and precious lives may be saved.
In a nutshell, to see the output of Pakistani police like the European one, the state must shift its focus to the lacking of facilities required for investigation.
The writer serving in KP Police