Pakistan: Young man dies after ‘police torture’ in Swat

Islamabad [Pakistan], August 31 (ANI): A large number of protesters on Wednesday surrounded the Matta police station in Pakistan after a young man died in a local hospital allegedly due to police torture, Dawn reported.
According to the deceased’s relatives, Sanaullah, a resident of the Tootkey area in Matta tehsil, was arrested by Matta police a couple of days ago.
One of his relatives said, “The police tortured him during the investigation and when his condition worsened, he was sent to jail instead of the hospital.”
They added that owing to his critical medical condition, the jail sent him to the hospital where he died.
The family members staged a demonstration claiming that the young man’s body bore clear signs of brutal violence, Dawn reported, adding that they placed the youth’s body in front of the Matta police station, barricading the road and launched a strong protest.
They then urged the authorities concerned to initiate legal proceedings against the police officers allegedly involved in the incident.
Earlier, The News International recently reported that the use of torture in Pakistan by law enforcement agencies in order to extract confessions or other information has been widespread.
Though efforts to eradicate this practice have been expedited in recent years, with the passage of the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act in 2022, gaps in the framework to identify, punish and end the use of torture remain, it said.
According to some, the legal definition of torture excludes mental and psychological abuse, which is equally as potent as physical abuse in terms of long-term harm, and there is no permanent mechanism to financially compensate victims of torture for the harm that they have suffered. (ANI)