ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Friday supported Senator Sherry Rehman who proposed to criminalise custodial torture.

The PPP senator had presented to the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights ‘The Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Bill, 2020’. She had introduced the bill in the house on Feb 10.

“There are 150 torture cells in Lahore.There should not be impunity. We want to stop it, and penalise custodial torture. Police should know that parliamentarians are watching them,” she informed the members.

She also drew attention of members towards Pakistan’s international commitments against torture.

Committee Chairman Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar felt that Section 4, which said, “Whoever commits or conspires to commit the offence of custodial death or custodial sexual violence shall be punished with imprisonment for life and fined Rs3 million”, conflicted with the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Sector 4 was amended to “Whoever commits or conspires to commit the offence of custodial death or custodial sexual violence shall be punished as per law”.

“Capital punishment has never deterred offence,” she said in response.

Besides other minor drafting corrections, the committee was indecisive who would monitor or supervise Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) which should have primary jurisdiction to investigate complaints under this act.

Members decided to take up the matter when it met again.

Ms Rehman also pointed out that many bills passed from the Senate committee get held up in the National Assembly.

Taking notice of the matter, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar decided to write to the NA speaker, on behalf of committee members, reminding the house of a list of important bills that are being delayed, which reflects badly on lawmakers.

The committee also heard suggestions from visually impaired representatives for inclusion in ‘The ICT Rights of Persons with Disability Bill, 2020’.

Members were surprised to learn that local airlines did not permit persons with visual impairments to fly alone.

They also expressed shock that most banks declined services to visually impaired persons.

Prof Raja Amir Hanif proposed that jurisdiction of the law should not be limited to the federal capital.

“We also demand financial autonomy and the same rights as other individuals so that we can also avail banking facilities such as our own ATM cards,” he said, urging strongly upon implementation of law.

Also speaking on behalf of visually impaired individuals, Syed Sultan Shah suggested clear definitions of various disabilities.

Mohammad Shabir proposed that all public and private websites be made accessible to visually impaired persons along international standards.

Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness Chief Coordinator Rabail Peerzada, who suffered blindness after a head injury, proposed for more textbooks for visually impaired persons.

Published in Dawn, February 29th, 2020