OKARA: A magistrate tasked with probing into the death of a condemned prisoner in the Okara District Jail has submitted his report to the district and sessions judge.

Magistrate Rana Arshad Ali Khan was to determine the cause of the death of Asif Nadeem Lashari, of Arifwala, who died at the Okara DHQ City Hospital on April 12.

His family accused the jail administration of committing physical torture resulting in his death.

According to the report, DHQ City Hospital Consultant Surgeon Dr Faisal Rauf Rao said he observed nine injuries on the body of the deceased prisoner. The determining factors of the cause of death were linked to the report of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency, Lahore.

It is said the deceased told his father Ashraf, a retired police officer, just a day before his death he might be killed in the jail for not giving bribe to the jail staff. Following the complaint of the family, a murder case was registered with the Okara Saddar police against five jail officials, including the jail superintendent.

The postmortem was conducted to fulfil the legal requirements. The jail superintendent refuted the allegations levelled against the jail administration.

The magistrate learned Lashari suffered vomiting and hypertension with complaints of shortness of breath and blood oozing from his nose.

He was shifted to the jail hospital, but as his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to the DHQ City Hospital where he died.

DHQ City Medical Superintendent Dr Shahid Saleem and emergency ward duty Dr Muhammad Haris stated the condition of the prisoner was at the last stage and he could not survive despite doctors’ best efforts.

The investigation officer recorded the statements of jail doctor Abid Ali and paramedic Sajid Feroze, four prisoners of barrack No 12 and four prisoners of adjacent barracks number 9, 10 and 11.

Similarly, the statements of five jail staffers who shifted the deceased to the DHQ City Hospital emergency ward were recorded. The statements suggested that the victim was not subjected to any physical torture.

The magistrate also collected CCTV footage regarding the movement of the victim with regard to shifting from barrack to the jail hospital and referring to the DHQ Hospital.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2022