Loopholes in the operating laws render it incapable to cope with Torture cases. Torture incidents turned into a public debate following the custodial death of Salahuddin Ayubi, a mentally ill teenage who was put behind bars alleged to have broken an ATM Machine. Unbeknownst to the public, private torture cells discovered on the backdrop of Salahuddin Ayubi's death. Pouring condemnation is justified here.
Under Article 14 (2) of Pakistan's Constitution, "No person shall be subjected to torture for the purpose of extracting Evidences". Similarly, Section 337-K of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) also prohibits causing of injury for extracting confession and this offence is punishable up to 10 years imprisonment.
A question that cries out for an answer is that, "Is torturing for the purpose of extracting confessions the only kind of torture in Pakistan?" If No, do the other types of torture fall into the legal black hole of existing laws? Torture exists in multiple forms, in schools, offices, in madrassas, but no laws have been legislated till now despite witnessing torture in multiple forms throughout different corners of the country.
Recent incident in Lahore that shocked the conscience of many, a 10-year-old boy breathed his last after being mercilessly thrashed by his school teacher. While torture on women has become a normal part of our lives. Constitution is the ‘Supreme Law’ of a state, but unfortunately, the only provision has been enacted in it that covers the only type of torture.
The children in madrassas are subjected to harsh treatment. In 2018, police recovered 68 shackled people, 14 children among them from a local seminary, the Karachi police registered a case against five suspects for torturing, keeping and illegally detaining the madrassa students. This and many more cases appeared, enough to awake the dormant legislature.
Punjab has the most record of torture cases, and it is proving to be the most degraded province morally-not-too-distant Zainab's murder case erupted that sparked outrage throughout the country, Imran Ali the culprit in Zainab’s case was hanged to death, but no steps have been taken by the legislature to make laws that could deter the future cases. Article 5 of United Declaration of Human Rights guarantees freedom from torture, Pakistan, being a member of UNO, must act in compliance with it.
Such morally degraded acts of torture will blemish the image of Pakistan in international arena.
There is a dire need of comprehensive laws, the piecemeal legislations failed to impede the ever-mounting torture cases. Legislation on a single form of torture means giving license for torture in other directions, because ‘no law means no accountability’. It is high time to take comprehensive steps in this direction and to preserve human dignity.