Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar on Sunday ordered a judicial inquiry into the custodial death of a teenager in Karachi due to alleged torture.

The teenager, 18-year-old Muhammad Irfan, was arrested by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of police along with three of his friends on October 22.

SIU Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amjad Ahmed Shaikh told Dawn that they were taken to the SIU/ CIA Centre in Saddar at around 5:30pm the same day, and 15 minutes later, the health condition of Irfan deteriorated. He was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival, he said.

The police claimed that the boy died of a heart attack, while his relatives allege that he was tortured to death. Preliminary findings from his post-mortem examination — conducted in the presence of a judicial magistrate at JPMC — suggested the presence of multiple injuries on the teenager’s body, according to doctors and the police.

In a statement issued today, the spokesperson for the home ministry said, “The home minister has directed the additional chief secretary (home) to initiate the process of judicial inquiry into the case.”

It has been directed that “a thorough forensic investigation of the incident be carried out, and whosoever is involved should be taken to task”.

“The case should be taken to a logical conclusion with the help of modern techniques,” the statement said.

“I feel sorry that the child has died in the custody of the police,” Lanjar was quoted as saying.

Protest

On Saturday, relatives of the deceased and others staged a sit-in at an Edhi morgue at Sohrab Goth while carrying the coffin of the victim, whose body was kept at the morgue, and blocked the main road.

The hours-long protest ended on Saturday night after assurances by “higher police authorities” that justice would be provided to them, said senior journalist Shahid Jatoi, who was one of the protesters.

He said Irfan’s coffin was taken to his native village, Bait Ahmed, in Ahmedpur East, Bahawalpur district, on Saturday night, where “thousands of people” attended his funeral prayer.

He said that “Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) SIU spoke to the relatives and promised that after receipt of the final report of the doctors, section 302 (intentional murder) would be incorporated in the first information report (FIR) of the case”.

FIR

An FIR of the incident was registered at the Saddar Police Station on the complaint of SIU and Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) Station House Officer (SHO) Mumtaz Ahmed under Sections 34 (common intention) and 319 (manslaughter) of the Pakistan Penal Code against seven nominated SIU/CIA officers.

The FIR said that four people were detained by the SIU police party from Lilly Bridge near Cantonment Station in the limits of Frere Police Station on October 22.

The FIR added that they were detained on information provided by a special informant, a case was registered against the four on the same day, and they were handed over to an assistant sub-inspector (ASI).

SHO Ahmed said he came to know through the investigating officer (IO) of the case that two other assistant sub-inspectors had continued interrogating Irfan when his health deteriorated suddenly and he became unconscious.

The SHO added that the IO took Irfan to the hospital without informing him. SHO Ahmed said the SIU personnel had committed “negligence” during Irfan’s arrest and custody. He said it transpired that the registration of the case against the deceased was also “dubious” and the entire matter raised suspicion.

On Saturday, Karachi police arrested two cops who were named in the FIR. Earlier, on Friday, seven policemen were suspended after the incident came to light.