(Web Desk) - Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar on Sunday ordered a judicial inquiry into the custodial death of a teenager in Karachi due to alleged torture.
The teenager, 18-year-old Muhammad Irfan, was arrested by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of police along with three of his friends on October 22.
SIU Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amjad Ahmed Shaikh told the media that they were taken to the SIU/ CIA Centre in Saddar where the health condition of Irfan deteriorated.
He was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival, he said.
The police claimed that the boy died of a heart attack, while his relatives allege that he was tortured to death. Preliminary findings from his post-mortem examination — conducted in the presence of a judicial magistrate at JPMC — suggested the presence of multiple injuries on the teenager’s body, according to doctors and the police.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the spokesperson for the home ministry said, “The home minister has directed the additional chief secretary (home) to initiate the process of judicial inquiry into the case.”
It has been directed that “a thorough forensic investigation of the incident be carried out, and whosoever is involved should be taken to task”.
“The case should be taken to a logical conclusion with the help of modern techniques,” the statement said.
“I feel sorry that the child has died in the custody of the police,” Lanjar was quoted as saying.