KHANEWAL, Jan 29: The Kabirwala additional district and sessions court judge ordered the Khanewal district police officer (DPO) on Tuesday to register a case against six police officials and two others allegedly involved in killing a young man in police custody on Jan 23.

Allah Bukhsh died at Nawan Shehr police station due to alleged police torture. Those nominated in the case are officials of Nawan Shehr police station, which include: Assistant Sub-Inspector Muhammad Aslam Sial and constables Muhammad Ashraf Hiraj, Muhammad Iqbal Hiraj, Muhammad Riaz Talha, Qaswar Shah and Shaukat Ali. The two others nominated in the case are: Allah Ditta and Muhammad Akram, both from the Tarraggar family of Mauza Jamalke, Nawan Shehr.

Allah Ditta, brother of the deceased, moved the court stating that accused Ditta and Akram were relatives to him. Their nephew, Ansar Abbas, got registered a case on Dec 12, 1999, under the Islamic law in Nawan Shehr police station against Allah Bukhsh and five others for abducting a woman, Samina Bibi. Later, the court declared Allah Bukhsh and others nominated in the case innocent. Allah Bukhsh’s acquittal of the case, however, infuriated Ditta and Akram and they tried time and again to kill him.

On Jan 23, the petitioner said, he and his other family members were present at their house at Mauza Khokhar Muhabbat Tarragar when Falak Sher and Zahoor Hussain arrived there and informed them about dubious activities of Ditta and Akram. At 9pm, Ditta and Akram along with the six police officials broke into their house and held the family at gunpoint. The intruders started beating Allah Bukhsh and warned others if someone tried to intervene into the police action, the entire family would be gunned down. Then police officials bundled Allah Bukhsh into the police van and left the home.

“I along with eye witnesses (Zahoor and Falak Sher) after facing this brutal police action arrived at the police station. Sitting in the office of ASI Aslam Sial, I could hear the cries of Allah Bukhsh,” Ditta said in the petition. The ASI asked them to go out of the police station, saying they would get the body of Allah Bukhsh.

The petitioner said that he and others spent the whole night outside the police station listening to the cries of his brother due to police torture.

On Jan 24, they came to know the police had tortured Allah Bukhsh to death. Police sent the body to the Kabirwala Tehsil Headquarters hospital for autopsy. Later, the body was sent to the Khanewal District Headquarters (DHQ) hospital for the autopsy. The autopsy report has yet to be compiled or written by a medical board of the DHQ hospital. The report was delayed as the police officials had influenced the doctors, the petition concluded.

On Tuesday, a few local dailies carried a story that the heirs to Allah Bukhsh had exonerated the police officials from the death of Allah Bukhsh. The petitioner, however, denied any such statement.

He said the DPO had concocted the story and got it published in newspapers.

Talking to Dawn, Ditta said that police had exhibited a great highhandedness by killing his brother in illegal detention. He said police even thrashed and kicked the body of Allah Bukhsh in the face of a protest rally in Salarvan a few days ago,” he said.

Deceased’s wife Shabana Bibi said they would fight their legal battle till the high court and the Supreme Court and even would go to Presidency if they could not get justice in Khanewal. “I and my family will never forgive the accused police officials and others who are involved in killing my husband,” said tearful Shabana.

Petitioner’s counsel Javed Hashmi said the DHQ hospital authorities should immediately compile the report of autopsy.

Khanewal DPO Shahid Hanif said that the deceased’s brother and other relatives came to see him on Monday in the presence of some reporters. He (Allah Ditta), Mr Hanif said, said that he had no concern with the protest procession taken out at Salarvan against the alleged police torture. When the DPO was told that the court had ordered the registration of a case against the police officials, he said he would follow the court’s order. When asked when he would arrest the police officials, he said: “It is my discretion to arrest them or not.”

The DHQ hospital authorities sent samples of stomach, lungs and other body parts of the deceased to the chemical examiner, Lahore, for analysis on Monday. Sources said the board could not find the exact cause of the death. Sources claimed that the DHQ authorities had also sent samples of the deceased’s body for the DNA testing so as to assess two scratch-marks found on the body of Allah Bukhsh.