TOBA TEK SINGH: Faisalabad central jail deputy superintendent and eight other staffers were booked on Tuesday for allegedly torturing to death a prisoner in the jail.

Complainant Mushtaq Ahmad, of Faisalabad, stated in his FIR that his son Muhammad Imran Mani was arrested in a narcotic case registered by the Batala Colony police and was lodged in jail on 14-day judicial remand issued by a judicial magistrate.

He said he was informed by jail officials on Monday night that his son died due to sickness and his body was present in the DHQ hospital. He found multiple torture marks on the body.

He added that he and locality people met the jail superintendent who confirmed that in his inquiry it had been proved that the deceased was tortured in the jail. Those nominated in the FIR included deputy superintendent Fazal Elahi Larra, assistant superintendent Jalal Ahmad Khan, chief head warder Sarfraz Hussain, warder in charge Naveed Ashraf, head warder Muhammad Hanif and their four unidentified jail employees.

Later, scores of relatives of Mani blocked traffic by putting the body on the road at Faisalabad’s District Council Chowk and demand that the police arrest the jail officials and their opponents who allegedly got him murdered in the jail.

They told reporters the deceased remained in jail in a murder case and he was recently acquitted of the charge. Their opponents made a plot to kill him and firstly they got him arrested in a narcotics case and then tortured him to death with the connivance of jail staff.

They said the jail officials attempted to dub the death as suicide, but torture marks on the body exposed the plot.

Police officers held talks with the protesters and assured them that the accused persons would be arrested.

Jail DIG Saaddullah Gondal suspended the jail superintendent, the deputy superintendent and four other jail employees on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2022