PESHAWAR: A judicial commission tasked with probing the stripping and torture of an Afghan refugee in police custody on Tuesday recorded statements of five people, including victim Radiullah alias Amirey.

The home department had formed the single-member commission headed by Justice Lal Jan Khattak of the Peshawar High Court on June 29 after consulting the chief justice.

According to spokesperson for the commission Syed Hassan Raza Shah, the commission recorded statements of Radiullah, his brothers Attaullah and Bilal and two other witnesses, including Jehanzeb and Shafiqullah.

The commission will resume proceedings today (Wednesday).

Initially, police constables Zairullah, Naeem and Tauseef were arrested over the custodial torture.

Later, station house officers Imran and Sheharyar were also suspended and arrested in the case.

The Tehkal police station had registered FIR on June 24 after two video clips of the stripping and torture of Radiullah went viral on social media causing a public outcry.

Provincial police chief Sanaullah Abbasi removed the then senior superintendent of police, Peshawar, Zahoor Afridi, from his post thereafter.

Radiullah was picked up allegedly by the police after the surfacing of a video that showed him use abusive language against their officials.

He was later detained, severely tortured and stripped.

The inquiry commission has been tasked with determining the cause and facts of the incident, fixing responsibility for it, determining institutional lacunas in the system leading to such incidents, and making recommendations to prevent them in future.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2020