PESHAWAR: A local court on Monday turned down the bail pleas of five suspended police officials, including two station house officers, over the stripping and torture of a suspect in custody, whose video went viral causing public outrage.

Additional district and sessions judge Shehzad Akhunzada pronounced the order after hearing the arguments of lawyers for the petitioners and prosecution. The petitioners included former SHO of the Yakatoth police station Imranuddin and former SHO of the Tehkal police station Sheharyar Khan and constables Zairullah, Naeem and Tauseef.

After the incident was reported, the police constables in question were taken into custody. Later, the two SHOs were also suspended and arrested.

FIR of the custodial torture was registered by the Tehkal police station on June 24 after two video clips of the torture and stripping of Radiullah, an Afghan national living in Tehkal area of Peshawar, by the police surfaced on social media and caused a public outcry.

They include two SHOs, three constables

Provincial police chief Sanaullah Abbassi had also removed the then senior superintendent of police, Peshawar, Zahoor Afridi from his post after the incident.

The victim of the custodial torture was picked up allegedly by a police party after his video against the force emerged. The video showed him use abusive language against police officials.

The police allegedly to take revenge took him into custody before severely torturing and stripping him.

The counsel for the petitioners contended that their clients were falsely implicated in the case and they had no connection with it.

The state prosecutors argued that in the FIR of the custodial torture incident, different provisions of the Electronic Crimes Prevention Act (PECA), 2016, commonly known as cyber crimes prevention law, were included.

They contended that under Section 44 of the PECA, it was only the jurisdiction of a court set up under the said law to hear cases related to it.

The state prosecutors said the present petitions were not maintainable as the current court had no jurisdiction to hear cases related to the offences under the PECA.

They pointed out that the two SHOs had so far not been interrogated in the case as they had claimed that they were tested positive for Covid-19 and had been kept in isolation.

Initially, the provisions of the PECA were not included in the FIR.

The district public prosecutor later intervened and got different provisions included in the FIR, including PECA 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).

Currently, Justice Lal Jan Khattak of the Peshawar High Court is conducting a judicial inquiry into the custodial torture. It has so far recorded the statements of around 28 people, including the accused and torture victim.

The single-member commission was formed by the home department on June 29 in consultation with the high court’s chief justice.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2020