A student of seventh grade, Shahzaib, died mysteriously in police custody on Sunday. Student’s relatives and local people set off a protest outside the Gharbi police station, Peshawar.
According to a statement issued from the office of CCPO, the student named Shahzaib, son of Khyal Mohammad and resident of Warsak Road, was arrested on Sunday on the complaint of shopkeepers in Liaquat Bazaar for exchanging hot words and pointing weapon at them.
The police registered an FIR against Shahzaib under section 15 of Arms Act. However, later Shahzaib committed suicide inside the lockup, the statement added.
According to Shahzaib’s father, his son went to the bazaar at around 2pm to make his pictures, needed for the school examination.
He said, police called him at 3pm to inform that his son was with them. He reached the police station within half an hour.
“When I reached the police station the police didn’t tell me anything for three hours about my son’s condition,” he said, adding the police informed him later that his son had committed suicide by hanging himself with something in the lockup.
He alleged that his son died because of police torture in the lockup. He asked authorities to provide him justice as his son was treated inhumanly by police.
Relatives of the deceased student and a large number of people, staged a protest demonstration outside the Gharbi police station and blocked the busy Sunehri Masjid Road. They chanted slogans against the police and their misuse of power.
Chief Minister Mahmood Khan took the instantaneous notice of the event and suspended the entire staff of the Gharbi police station and ordered for a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Advisor to the chief minister on information Kamran Bangash said that if police officials are found involved in killing of the student after the judicial inquiry, they would be given exemplary punishment.
Speaking at a press conference, Chief City Police Officer Abbas Ihsan and SSP operations Yasir Afridi said investigation into the death of the student was underway.
They said that right now, they cannot reveal the details about how and with which instrument the student committed suicide. The Gharbi police SHO Dost Mohammad was also arrested and put behind the bars.
