PESHAWAR, Aug 23: An under-trial prisoner has died in central prison here, apparently due to excessive torture, his relatives claimed on Friday.

Prisoner, Ghulam Idrees, 33, was buried on Thursday after his body was handed over to the aggrieved family by authorities of Lady Reading Hospital where he was shifted from central prison in critical condition.

“When I visited him in the hospital, his hand and ribs were fractured and was in a very critical condition,” Malang Jan, one of his relatives who was with him when he died in the hospital, said.

The prison authorities claimed that they had seized a small quantity of contraband from him inside the prison, following which he was beaten. The authorities, however, claimed that the cause of death was not the beating.

Contrary to the claim of the prison administration, the inhabitants of Changarabad where the Idrees used to live, and his close relatives including his father, sister and wife, claimed that marks of torture were visible on his body. “His arm was hanging down from his shoulder, ribs were fractured and blood was oozing out from his head,” said Abdul Aziz, father of the deceased.

On Friday, Abdul Aziz also filed an application in the Peshawar High Court, requesting the Chief Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan to take suo motu notice of the matter. He told Dawn they had also visited the East Cantonment police station to register an FIR against deputy superintendent of the prison, Shahjehan Khan.

Khursheed Khan, brother of the deceased said his brother was in prison for the last 10 months. The deceased has left behind a widow, four daughters and a son.

ANOTHER CASE: Five days ago another under-trial prisoner, Yousaf resident of Hazarkhwani area, had tried to commit suicide with a shaving blade. He slit his throat after which he was admitted to the hospital. At the hospital he told newsmen that he could no longer stand excessive torture in the prison.