PESHAWAR: A local court on Thursday granted the police two days physical remand of the three constables held for stripping and torturing a suspect in custody.

Zairullah, Naeem and Tauseef were produced before judicial magistrate Farooq Shah at the Peshawar Judicial Complex in an armoured personnel carrier amid tight security checks.

Lawyers turned up before the court in large numbers, including president of Peshawar District Bar Association Akhter Biland Khan.

They opposed the physical remand of the accused and said the police had tried to save them by not including proper sections of the law in the FIR, including those dealing with cyber-crimes.

The FIR was registered at Tehkal police station on Wednesday after two video clips of the police torturing and stripping suspect Radiullah alias Amirae went viral on social media causing a public outcry.

Inclusion of cyber-crime in FIR ordered

District public prosecutor Fazal Noorani on Thursday took notice of the non-inclusion of the relevant sections in the FIR and ordered the police to include those provisions.

He directed the police to include Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, Section 20 (offence against dignity of a person), Section 21 (offence against modest of a person) and Section 24 (cyber stalking) and Pakistan Penal Code Section 166 (public servant disobeying law to cause injury to a person) and Section 342 (wrongful confinement) .

The DPP also formed a two-member committee to supervise the case. The committee comprises senior public prosecutors Sangeen Shah and Rafiullah.

Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial police officer (PPO) told a Peshawar High Court bench on Thursday that initial inquiry into the stripping and torturing case had also pointed out the role of Peshawar’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) in it, so he was removed from his post on Wednesday night.

Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar directed provincial police chief Dr Sanaullah Abbassi to ensure the booking of the culprits under the relevant laws.

“We have seen in such cases that the police officials often try to spare their accused colleagues. However, such practice should not be repeated in this case,” Justice Qaiser Rashid observed.

Following public outcry against the incident, the bench took notice of the issue when it began hearing routine cases and ordered the PPO and Peshawar capital city police officer (CCPO) to appear in person.

Later, the two officers turned up before the bench along with KP advocate general Shumail Ahmad Butt and additional advocate general Syed Sikander Hayat Shah.

Justice Qaiser Rashid observed that the incident of police brutality had shattered foundations of the society and terrorised people.

The judge observed that the KP police had earned a lot of respect due to the sacrifices rendered by several martyrs, including Safwat Ghayyur, Malik Saad and Abid Ali, but such incidents brought a bad name to the entire department.

The PPO said the police were equally concerned about the incident and had constituted a high-level committee, including the additional IG and CCPO, to look into it.

He added that initially, the station house officer and other officials were suspended and booked in the case, while later the SSP (operations) was removed from his post for having a role in it. However, he did not elaborate on it.

The PPO said he would ensure foolproof investigation to ensure action against perpetrators.

The bench observed that the way the policemen had been behaving it showed as if the department had recruited abnormal persons as SHOs.

Meanwhile, the KP Bar Council on Thursday announced that the lawyers would observe a strike across the province on Friday against the police’s brutality.

KPBC vice-chairman Shahid Raza Malik and executive committee chairman Shahid Riaz Burki made the announcement after consulting other members.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2020