The post-mortem report of Dr Shah Nawaz Kunbhar, the blasphemy suspect killed in a fake police encounter in Mirpurkhas, has been made public.
It reveals that the slain doctor suffered torture as four of his ribs and the shoulder bone were broken.
The front part of the body, the skin of the face and the head were found burnt as well.
The report was presented in the Sindh High Court, which reveals that the nails of both hands and feet of Dr. Shah Nawaz were partially burnt as well.
The court was informed that the final report would be submitted after the results of samples of other parts of the body were received from laboratories in Islamabad and Karachi.
On October 14, the Sindh government ordered to exhume the body of Dr Shah Nawaz Kunbhar under a special medical board supervised by Umerkot Judicial Magistrate Aamir Rajput in his native village, Jainro to take samples of 13 parts of the slain doctor’s body.
Police officials who have not been arrested
The News reported that the judges at the division bench of the Sindh High Court’s Mirpurkhas chapter, Justice Amjad Bohiyo and Justice Khadim Hussain, expressed anger at the failure of police officers to record statements.
The judges asked how the statements of suspended DIG Javed Jaskani, suspended Mirpurkhas and Umerkot SSPs, and CIA in-charge Inayat Zardari would be recorded when they had not been arrested.
However, the petitioner, Ali Palh, claimed before the court that the police officers were not arrested because of their influence.
The High Court, thus, expressed a lack of confidence in the Mirpurkhas police and handed over the investigations of the case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Palh told the media that under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act 2022, even the FIA would be supervised by the National Commission for Human Rights – a neutral body.
He noted that it was the first time that police were accused in a torture case, and it was a victory for the people that fake encounters with the police have been identified.
Background
On the night of September 18, 2024, the Sindhri Police claimed the death of Dr Shah Nawaz, a resident of Umarkot, in an alleged encounter.
Later, the murder case of Dr Shah Nawaz was registered at Sindhri police station as it was claimed that he was killed in Mirpurkhas on the alleged charge of blasphemy, in which the provisions of murder and anti-terrorism were also added.
While giving a press conference in Karachi on September 26, 2024, the Sindh Interior Minister admitted that the encounter was “fake”.
DIG Mirpurkhas, SSP Mirpurkhas and SSP Umarkot were suspended after the report of the Inquiry Committee of the Sindh Government was revealed.
A case was also registered against 45 other people, including police personnel and a cleric.
On October 11, the Sindh Human Rights Commission submitted a report to the Sindh government on the killing of Dr Shahnawaz on the charge of blasphemy, in which it was stated that the SSPs and DIGs of Mirpurkhas and Umarkot also denied the arrest of the doctor. However, they admitted that the accused was arrested from Karachi.
The report said technical assistance was not taken from the FIA after the trial, while the post-mortem report of the victim was not done for 2 days as the Medical Officer went on leave.
The report also demanded the formation of a Joint Investigation Team to identify those responsible for Dr Shahnawaz’s murder.
On October 15, the Sindh Home Department wrote a letter to the Registrar of the Sindh High Court and requested an inquiry from the serving judge of the Judicial High Court regarding the death of Dr. Shahnawaz.
This resulted in the hearing that was held on October 21 by the circuit bench of Sindh High Court’s Mirpurkhas chapter in which the investigation of the case was given to FIA.
Read more: Blasphemy suspect killed in police encounter; body burnt by mob
