LAHORE: A “high-powered committee” of police officials launched a fact-finding inquiry on Friday into the alleged torture of the husband of a woman, who, along with her 10-month-old daughter, died earlier this week after falling into an open sewer in Lahore, a source told Dawn.
The two had fallen into the sewer at the site of under-construction Data Darbar expansion project near Bhati Gate on Wednesday. While the woman’s body was found late night the same day, the 10-month-old child’s body was recovered on Thursday.
A first information report (FIR) of the incident has been registered on the complaint of the woman’s father at the Bhatti Gate police station under Section 322 (manslaughter) of the Pakistan Penal Code. Three suspects have been nominated in the FIR and all three of them were arrested a day ago.
Meanwhile, the victims’ family alleged police had tortured the woman’s husband, accusing him of committing his wife’s murder. They also arrested him and released him after around six hours.
A police official told Dawn that the fact-finding committee probing the allegation was headed by the Internal Accountability Branch (AIB) additional inspector general (IG) and included Lahore Deputy Inspector General (Administration) Imran Kishwar. The Punjab police chief constituted it on Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s directives, he said.
According to the official, the committee has been asked to finalise a report on the matter in 24 hours.
“The inquiry was initiated following complaints that police misused their authority and handled the matter unprofessionally by allegedly torturing the deceased woman’s husband,” he said, adding that committee members had also visited and inspected the Data Barbar project site.
He further said that the committee had also recorded the statements of the victims’ family, witnesses and other relevant people, checked where Safe City cameras were installed at the site and had also visited spots where the victims’ bodies were found.
According to the official, the inquiry committee has question a station house officer, a deputy superintendent of police and divisional superintended on why was the woman’s husband taken into custody.
The woman’s husband had called Rescue 1122 as soon as his wife and daughter had fallen into the manhole at about 7:30pm, but the rescue operation was stopped after it was suspected that the man was lying.
“Rescue 1122 personnel had slowed down the search operation, saying that the wastewater was just two feet deep and suspecting that the call may be a “fake” one,” the police official told Dawn.
Subsequently, the victim’s husband was taken into custody along with two other members of the family. The family alleged that the police tortured him, accusing him of committing his wife’s murder. And he was released around six hours later.
The police official who spoke to Dawn alleged that following Rescue personnel’s claims, “provincial and district officials wrongly briefed selective media persons to build a narrative that the incident related to a domestic dispute, and so that the woman’s husband be questioned for making a ‘fake call’.”
He said that the inquiry committee would finalise and submit its report to the Punjab police chief “for a final consideration by the CM”.
Separately, Lahore DIG (Investigation) Zeeshan Raza told Dawn that police had arrested the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the company that had been awarded the contract for the Data Darbar expansion project.
“We have arrested the two CEOs of the company, Salman and Usman”, Raza said, adding that they had been taken to a police station.
The move comes hours after a police source told Dawn that the contractor of the under-construction project as well as CEOs of M/S Design and Engineering Pvt Limited would be questioned in connection with the case.
He said the action was being taken on government’s directives.
“A team of senior officers will question them to determine why the company failed to ensure safety protocols and cover the loopholes that led to the incident,” the official said.
This the one of the latest measures in a string of steps that have been taken by the authorities following the incident.
Yesterday, the government suspended from service the entire team of the Data Darbar revamp project, which also includes Bhati Chowk remodelling, after the preliminary inquiry proved their negligence.
Meanwhile, the project consultant, Nespak, was issued a show-cause notice with a recommendation to suspend the resident engineer.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also took aim at senior officials, including the Lahore commissioner, assistant commissioner and the head of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) for the “negligence” which led to the incident.
Addressing a high-level meeting, she grilled the top bureaucracy in front of the camera and ordered the removal and arrest of four officers.
About the Author
