The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed the bail applications of three police officers in the custodial killing case, and directed the provincial police chief to consider initiating disciplinary proceedings against the members of the force involved in the unfortunate incident.
A single SHC bench headed by Justice Omar Sial said that the argument that there is no other way but violence to interrogate to gain information must end, and custodial deaths must not be allowed to happen.
Inspector Mohammad Mithal Khakrani, Sub-Inspector Sabir Hussain Gopan and duty officer Yaseen were booked among others by the Federal Investigation Agency for torturing under-trial prisoner Mohammad Nawaz to death at the Sakrand police station on February 25, 2025.
According to the prosecution, complainant Asad Nawaz alleged that his brother had been arrested by police in connection with criminal cases and was tortured to death by them during custody.
The applicants’ counsel said they had been implicated in the case because they were posted at the police station, while some other co-accused in the case had been granted bail. The court said that according to the applicants’ counsel, the victim had been beaten by the public in an earlier case registered against him, but this argument lacks force, and evidence of the case does not support their submission.
The court said that one of the applicant’s counsel had told the court that the Shaheed Benazirabad SSP runs private torture cells, and it was there that Nawaz had been tortured. The court said that a boy had been taken into custody allegedly for an offence committed earlier, and had been kept at the police station and he visited his family members.
The court said that that argument that there is no other way but violence to interrogate to gain information must end, and custodial deaths must not be allowed to happen. The court said that the extent of the use of physical force to extract information must have certain limits drawn, and those limits must not be transcended. The court said we would not be a civilised nation if we do not even reach this bare minimum.
The court said the IGP should ensure that no person is permitted to tarnish the reputation of the police force even from within its own ranks, and directed him to consider initiating disciplinary proceedings against the members of the force involved in the unfortunate incident.
The court said that the accused are police officers, and they have the capability of tampering with the evidence and influencing witnesses. The court dismissed the post-arrest bail applications of Khakrani and Gopan, and recalled the pre-arrest bail of Yaseen, with the direction to the trial court to proceed with the trial expeditiously, and in complete professional and independent manner so that the controversy is not allowed to persist because it might either lessen people’s trust in police or impact the morale of the force
