ISLAMABAD: Inspector General of Police (IGP) has demoted the Karachi Company police SHO Irshad Cheema after he was found guilty of subjecting two boys to custodial torture.

This was stated by the representatives during a two-day hearing of a complaint lodged with the National Commission on Rights of Child (NCHR).

The complaint was filed by former senator Farhatullah Babar and Advocate Imaan Hazir Mazari, a human rights activist, with the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights, which referred the matter to the commission.

During the course of hearing on Tuesday SSP Operations, Malik Jameel Zafar and the SHO denied the charges.

HR activist, former senator file complaint with Senate body, which referred matter to NCHR

The SHO told the commission that the complainants misunderstood construction noise as ‘screams’.

However, the NCHR concluded that the Juvenile Justice System Act 2017 was violated by police and recommended action under Police Order 2002 and Code of Criminal Procedure Code Ordinance 2002.

After receiving the complaint, the commission had issued notices to the IGP, the chief commissioner Islamabad, SHO Karachi Company Irshad Cheema, members of the Juvenile Justice Committee, Islamabad Bar Council’s committee on human rights and the Ministry of Interior to appear before the commission for a hearing on Nov 23.

According to documents available with Dawn, Wajahat bin Saif, 16, a resident of G-7/1, and Mohammad Fahad Aftab, 17, were arrested by the Karachi Company police late on Oct 7 night and took them to the police station and started subjecting them to torture.

In the meantime, co-author of the complaint, Imaan Hazir Mazari, who was present in the police station along with a few journalists, heard loud screams of boys from a room and went there.

She discovered, along with other witnesses, that SHO Cheema was brutally beating the two boys, including stepping on their faces, as they were made to lie on the floor. The complainant asked the SHO that under what law he was beating the boys to which he could not answer.

The journalists had recorded the conversation. The SHO attempted to cover his action by putting the boys’ names in three dormant FIRs.

According to a statement issued on Wednesday, the hearing was attended by the complainants Farhatullah Babar, Imaan Mazaari, District Prosecutor Ch. M. Naseem Zia, SSP-Operations Malik Jameel Zafar, the respondent, SHO G-9 Markaz Police Station Irshad Cheema, Advocate Adil Aziz Qazi, Chairman Human Rights Committee, Islamabad Bar Council.

Chaudhary Saif, father of one of the victims, was also present on the occasion.

The complainant, Imaan Mazhari alleged that she was present at the police station to sort out some issue when she heard the screams of the boys from the retiring room of the SHO and witnessed him torturing them.

Police inquiry report, held on IGPs direction, found that there were seven credible witnesses to the SHO’s action but the respondent failed to produce a single witness in his favour.

The police report stated the SHO could not give any reasonable or logical answer to inquiry committee question.

In this regard, the representative of IGP informed the Commission that after inquiry, the SHO has been demoted to a lower rank.

Chaudhary Saif, the father of the alleged victim appeared before the commission on Wednesday and recorded his statement. The father stated that his son was illegally detained at G-9 Police Station and subjected to custodial torture from Oct 7 to 12 and produced credible documentary evidence that confirmed the boys were underage.

The accused juveniles were implicated in three different FIRs at the same police station.

Hence the Commission has prima facie concluded that the Juvenile Justice System Act 2017 was violated by the SHO and found credible evidence suggesting that custodial torture was inflicted upon juveniles during illegal detention.

The Commission expressed concerns over lack of institutional accountability in respect of misconduct by an officer, illegal detention and custodial torture. It highlighted that the applicability of Police Order 2002 has not been extended to Islamabad through a formal notification despite judgments of Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court. The Police Order 2002 stipulates an institutional mechanism for accountability of police and shall be formally applicable in the city with immediate effect.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2022