Salahuddin Ayubi was tortured before death, forensic report confirms
September 17, 2019
KARACHI/LAHORE: Salahuddin Ayubi, a man who died in the custody of the Rahim Yar Khan police, was tortured before he died a day after his arrest, according to a forensic report released on Tuesday.
In the latest development in the Salahuddin torture-custodial death case, the report confirmed that the deceased suspect was beaten, especially on his right arm and the left side of his stomach that left severe bruising.
There were masses of coagulated blood in the parts of Salahuddin's body where he was tortured, the report stated, adding that the deceased was often out of breath due to a lung disease.
It is noteworthy that top police officials had denied the claim of pain and torture being inflicted on Salahuddin after the late suspect's family alleged that he had been beaten before death.
Police, after his death, had said he was transferred to the hospital over deteriorating health but passed away.
A few days ago, Salahuddin's family had refused to accept the findings of the post-mortem report and filed a petition in the court to exhume the dead body to carry out a new post-mortem.
In this regard, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had ordered the formation of a judicial commission to probe the matter.
Salahuddin 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 he had died while in the Punjab police's custody. Ayubi's family, who had said he was suffering from a mental condition, had claimed he died from custodial torture.
Earlier this month, on September 6, two top police officers had been put on special duty: the district police officer (DPO) for Rahim Yar Khan, Umar Farooq, and the superintendent of police (SP) for investigation in Lahore's Cantt. area, Asim Iftikhar, were reassigned to serve as officers on special duty (OSD).
Farooq was removed from his post as the DPO for RYK and was to report to city police officer (CPO) for Punjab.
During Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar's visit to Salahuddin's residence in Kamoke Tehsil for condolence, his lawyer had requested him to investigate the case under the leadership of a deputy inspector-general (DIG) rank officer, include a clause of terrorism in the case, and shift it from Rahim Yar Khan to Lahore.
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