The Punjab Home Department said on Friday that five prison officers were suspended for allegedly being involved in the physical torture of inmates at Attock Jail.

An under-trial prisoner was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the lavatory of the Attock District Jail in April. Prison officials had claimed that the prisoner had taken his own life by hanging himself with a drawstring. The inmate’s body was found by his fellow prisoners hanging from the window of the jail washroom.

An order from the home department, issued a day ago, said Deputy Superintendent Executive Sarmad Hassan, Assistant Superintendent Mushtaq Ahmed, Chief Warden Muhammad Rafiq, Head Warden Zulfiqar and Warden Muhammad Ayub were placed under suspension for 90 days with immediate effect on charges of “inefficiency, negligence and misconduct” under Section 6 of Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act, 2006.

A statement from the home department spokesperson said the five were suspended for “abuse of authority, mismanagement and incompetence” after they were “found involved in torture on a prisoner”.

He said torturing any prisoner was not allowed under prison rules and the home department was implementing a “zero tolerance” policy against violation of laws and abuse of authority.

The statement pointed out that Attock Jail Superintendent Arif Shahbaz had already been removed from his post and transferred to Lahore.

The spokesperson said the home department had issued rules and regulations for the management and administration of all jails across the province, prohibiting the torture of prisoners.

In February, the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights voiced concerns about the dire conditions in prisons, particularly crowding and prolonged delays in justice for death row inmates.

According to Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a non-profit organisation based in Lahore that represents the most vulnerable Pakistani prisoners, “police torture is endemic and systematic in Pakistan.”

Research carried out by the JPP shows “torture is accepted as an inevitable part of law enforcement in Pakistan, and perpetrators of torture are granted impunity through a combination of socio-cultural acceptance, lack of independent oversight, widespread powers of arrest and detention, procedural loopholes and ineffective safeguards, including Pakistan’s failure to criminalise torture despite being a signatory of the UN Convention Against Torture.”