SALAHUDDIN Ayubi, a young man who died almost a month ago at

the hands of the police, was like a character out of a Saadat Hasan
Manto novel. Mentally handicapped from birth, our society never
had any place for him. This isolation probably led him to frequently
run away from home. Eventually, out of desperation, Salahuddin’s
family tattooed their contact details on his arm, hoping beyond
hope that they would be called if he ever got into any trouble.

Salahuddin allegedly became involved in a life of petty crime. We don’t know if

that is the truth, because he never lived for his trial. Regardless, one can
forgive these allegations even if true, given his mental condition. Eventually,
in August, a video of him emerged from an ATM in Faisalabad, turning him
into a national sensation because of a taunt he made at the camera as he
wrestled with the ATM. Who knew then that Salahuddin’s taunt would evoke
our national conscience and act as a haunting critique of our systems of justice
as his story continued to unfold?

Eventually captured and arrested by the police in Rahim Yar Khan,

Salahuddin’s story should have ended there — with his family being contacted;
an independent investigation into his alleged crimes; a trial; and maybe,
hopefully, him getting the help he required from the state. But unfortunately,
like all of Manto’s famous short stories, Salahuddin’s saga quickly became a
tragedy.

Within a mere 24 hours of his arrest, Salahuddin was dead. Within a few
hours of his death, videos of his torture and harassment at the hands of police
officials were making the rounds on social media. His last recorded words
were directed at the police officials torturing him: “Who taught you how to
beat people?” Now, finally, after much hue and cry raised by Salahuddin’s
family, his brave lawyers and the nation, an independent autopsy report has
confirmed it: Salahuddin was subjected to brutal physical torture before his
death.

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His taunt became a haunting critique of our justice
system.
Salahuddin became a victim of our criminal justice system. Justice Project
Pakistan, in its remarkably comprehensive 2014 report on custodial torture by
police in Faisalabad — the findings of which have been reaffirmed by a recent
National Commission of Human Rights inquiry — held unequivocally that
torture meted out by law enforcement agencies on convicts is institutional and
systemic in Pakistan. From Salahuddin’s case to a police torture cell being
unearthed in Lahore recently, their conclusion seems to be spot on.

These practices continue even as our Constitution clearly states that no one
can be illegally deprived of life or liberty. Article 14(2) goes on to specifically
target custodial torture by police forces as illegal. Pakistan has also signed and
ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture, which according to
recent international jurisprudence, makes it incumbent on signatory states to
make effective laws to criminalise, prohibit and prevent custodial torture. But
despite mountains of evidence of custodial torture being a normal part of our
criminal investigation process, as well as all the constitutional and
international obligations on our state to end such practices, the halls of
parliament and chambers of our highest constitutional court remain silent as
our police stations are filled with the screams of the ‘alleged guilty’.

While completely ending the menace of custodial torture will require a

complete overhaul of our criminal justice system and our police services, in
the interim, some simple measures are urgently required to combat this evil
effectively so that stories like Salahuddin’s become the exception rather than
the norm. We need only to look towards the Indian courts, which in the past
few years have issued several directives to curb this menace.

Measures such as independent monitoring of police stations through CCTV

cameras and police vehicles through GPS trackers; written and reasoned
orders to be produced by the police at the time of arrest of an accused;
mandatory communication of an arrest by the police to the family of the
accused at the time of the arrest; creation of an independent internal
accountability force within the police; mandatory psychological evaluations of
police recruits; and awarding of financial compensation for victims and their
families are the need of the hour to stop custodial torture and deaths in
Pakistan.

One can only hope that our policymakers, parliamentarians and judges take
up this issue now and try to combat the evil of custodial torture before yet
another Salahuddin enters the custody of the police in Pakistan expecting
justice, due procedure and respect of his civil rights from the very men
entrusted to protect the citizens of this great nation. We owe him at least that
much, so that his death may not be in vain.

The writer is a human rights lawyer working at the Law and Policy
Chambers in Islamabad.
AT a recent event in the capital, speakers from civil society, the
legislature and law enforcement regretted the absence of domestic
anti-torture laws. Despite endorsing the UN Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, and despite the presence of (the albeit limited) Article
14 (2) of the Constitution, which states that “no person shall be
subjected to torture for the purpose of extracting evidence”,
Pakistan is yet to create effective laws to put the spirit of the
convention and Constitution into effect. It was only recently that
the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act,
2019, was submitted to the Senate Secretariat. If passed, the bill
will criminalise torture in police custody. Unfortunately, brutality
and abuse continue to be endemic in policing in this country, and
are only strengthened by the lack of accountability. This was
recently brought to our attention by the tragic and highly
publicised death of young Salahuddin Ayubi, who was accused of
theft and then tortured to death at the hands of the Punjab police.
“Where did you learn to hit like that?” a bewildered Ayubi asked
the official behind the camera phone that recorded his last
moments. However, instead of investigating what was clear abuse
of power, officials announced a ban on the use of smartphones
inside police stations across the province.

In 2016, a Human Rights Watch report documented the use of torture by

police officials in Pakistan and found a serious need for reform. Amongst other
issues, it pointed to flaws in the colonial-era laws that govern policing and
deficiencies in the training of law enforcers. Officials confessed to not knowing
any way of extracting ‘confessions’ from suspects other than the use of brute
force. Torture is also widespread inside prisons and is employed to subdue or
punish inmates, many of whom are still awaiting trial. There is an urgent need
for reform and rethinking the old ways of enforcing the law.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2019