PESHAWAR: Radiullah alias Amiray, a victim of torture and stripping in police custody, recorded his statement before the judicial magistrate on Wednesday.

The resident of Tehkal area was arrested by police after a video of him cursing their officers under the influence of intoxicant was widely shared on social media last month.

He was stripped in the police station, while his videos were shared on social media.

On Wednesday, Radiullah appeared before judicial magistrate Mohammad Farooq Ahmad and recorded his statement under Section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code.

Names Tehkal, Yakatoot SHOs as tormenters

He claimed that he was picked up from his cousin’s house at around 1:30am on June 18. Radiullah said the police earlier raided his house.

He said soon after his arrest, SHOs Shahryar Ahmad of Tehkal police station and Imranuddin of Yakatut police station along with other officials thrashed and stripped him before taking him to the Tehkal police station in a vehicle.

Mr Radiullah said officials at the police station tortured and abused him and recorded his semi-naked videos on the orders of SHOs Imran and Shahryar.

He said the SHO of Yakatut police station later took him to a police post, where he was filmed semi-naked. Mr Radiullah said SHO Imranuddin also showed him to someone over a video call.

He said he was later detained at the police post, while a police official deployed there provided him with trousers.

The torture victim said he was taken to the Tehkal police station before dawn, where the cops tortured, abused and filmed him.

He said at Tehkal police station, SHO Imranuddin forced him to apologise on video and photographed him along with a liquor bottle, pistol and crystal meth and named him in a fake case.

Mr Radiullah said he was presented before a local court the next day, which sent him to the judicial lockup.

He said he was charging police officers named in his testimony and other cops, who he could identify for detaining, torturing, abusing, stripping and filming him.

Separately, the Peshawar High Court appointed a register and spokesperson to the judicial commission tasked with probing the custodial torture.

A news release issued here said the chief justice had appointed additional district and sessions judge Yasir Shabbir as the register to the inquiry commission and additional district and session judge Syed Hassan Raza as its spokesperson.

It said the commission would unearth facts of the incident and name the culpable persons.

The release said the commission would also highlight the root cause of such incidents and make recommendations to prevent them in future.

On Monday, the provincial government in consultation with the Peshawar High Court had tasked Justice Lal Jan Khattak with investigating the custodial torture at the request of the home department.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2020