LAHORE: Nawab Town police on Sunday registered a murder case against four policemen who allegedly tortured a youth during a raid at his house in Ayub Chowk locality of Nawab Town area on Saturday night.

Action was taken against Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Mohammad Younis, constables Yasir, Ansar and police van driver Arshad after scores of locals staged a protest against death of 18-year-old Ashfaq in police raid.

Police torture: A product of Pakistan's authoritarian political values?

The protesters blocked a road, burnt used tyres and shouted slogans against police, demanding action against the raiding team of Nawab Town police station. The situation remained tense in the area for hours as protesters refused to disperse till registration of a murder case against the policemen involved in the raid.

SP denies torture allegations

Senior police officers later reached the spot, held negotiations with the relatives of the deceased boy and assured them that justice would be done.

Ghulam Rasool, father of Ashfaq, said in the FIR that a police team entered his Ayub Chowk residence and thrashed some of his family members.

He said the policemen also subjected his son Ashfaq to severe torture with the butts of their guns and clubs, leaving him seriously injured. Ashfaq was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, he said, adding that his son was a fruit vendor.

It was the third incident reported in Lahore and sixth in Punjab during the last one month or so in which police had been blamed for death of a suspect. Clips of some of these incidents uploaded on social media caused further embarrassment to Punjab police high-ups.

Taking notice, Punjab Inspector General of Police Arif Nawaz Khan had issued new standard operating procedure (SOP) for all the field officers so that such incidents could be checked in future.

A police source said that the team of the Nawab Town police station had conducted the raid on a tip-off that a gambling den was being run in the area.

However, he admitted that in this particular incident, the police blatantly violated the SOPs and raided the house without getting permission from the Nawab Town SHO, resulting in death of the youth.

Saddar Division SP Ahsan Saifullah also confirmed to Dawn that the raiding team violated the SOPs. However, he said, the police personnel were nominated in the FIR for not taking permission from the SHO before raiding the “gambling den”.

To a question, he said, according to the raiding team, the deceased boy suffered head injuries when he tried to flee. The SP denied torture allegations leveled against his subordinates. He claimed the postmortem report also endorsed the version of the policemen.

Ashfaq might have been died of cardiac arrest, the SP said, adding that samples of various parts of the dead body had been dispatched for lab analysis to further confirm the cause of death.

Meanwhile, the chief minister has sought report from the IGP.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2019