CM Buzdar asks LHC to form judicial commission to probe Salahuddin's death
September 05, 2019
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has written a letter to the Lahore High Court's chief justice to constitute a judicial commission to investigate suspect Salahuddin Ayubi's death, his spokesperson confirmed.
The spokesperson, Dr Shahbaz Gill, said the Punjab CM had requested the LHC to constitute a judicial commission to "judicially probe the tragic incident of Salahuddin Ayubi", a mentally disabled man who was arrested in Rahim Yar Khan and allegedly died while in police custody.
Salahuddin Ayubi was arrested late last month after a video of him — allegedly stealing from an automated teller machine (ATM) in Faisalabad and then sticking his tongue out at the camera — went viral on social media.
Merely a day later, however, it was reported that the suspected ATM thief had died while in custody of the Punjab police.
Ayubi's family, who say he was suffering from a mental condition, claim he died from custodial torture.
Activist Jibran Nasir, on the other hand, had further shared the "pictures taken by Salahuddin's family of his body before burial", which reportedly showed that the deceased's home address and number were tattooed on his arm in case he got lost.
Separately, earlier today, a first information report (FIR) was registered against the police officers involved in the incident, provincial authorities said, adding that all three were suspended.
According to reports, a murder case was also registered against the three police officers, including the station house officer (SHO) who was in charge of Ayubi.
The provincial government said it was waiting for the postmortem report to be released to determine the authenticity of the charges against the police officers and will proceed forward accordingly.
The case had drawn public outcry after horrifying videos surfaced on social media, the recent one showing Punjab police officers beating and humiliating Ayubi.
A day prior, a horrifying video had surfaced, depicting Punjab police officers beating and humiliating Ayubi, using abusive words to intimidate him.
In a sickening display of abuse of power, the police officers were also seen asking Ayubi to stick out his tongue for their amusement, apparently oblivious to his mental and physical conditions.
Ayubi had appeared to be in extreme pain and was struggling to comprehend the situation he was in.
The late suspect was mute and mentally-challenged. He was reportedly suffering from a health condition and was rushed to a hospital when his condition deteriorated where he later died.
His body was handed over to his father for burial on Thursday, reports on social media suggested.
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