NCRC summons police, ministry officials over alleged custodial torture of two boys.

ISLAMABAD -- The National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) has taken notice of the alleged custodial torture on two minor boys at the hands of the station house officer (SHO) of G-9 police station.

A complaint in this regard was filed by former Senator Farhatullah Babar and Advocate Imaan Hazir Mazari, a human rights activist, with the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights and referred to the commission.

The commission issued notices to the inspector general of police (IGP), the chief commissioner Islamabad, SHO Karachi Company Irshad Cheema, members of the Juvenile Justice Committee, Islamabad Bar Council's committee on human rights and the Ministry of Interior to appear before the commission for a hearing on November 22.

The commission has decided to investigate the matter and promote juvenile justice and advance the rights of child.

According to documents available with Dawn, on the night of October 7, Wajahat bin Saif, 16, son of Chaudhry Saifuddin, a resident of G-7/1, and Mohammad Fahad Aftab, 17, son of Mohammad Aftab went out of their homes with the knowledge of their families.

Their motorcycle ran out of fuel in the limits of the Karachi Company police station after which they started dragging the bike on foot. The police arrested them and took the boys to the police station and started violence against them.

The boys' parents were left traumatised as nobody bothered to inform them about the arrest of their children.

Co-author of the complaint, Imaan Hazir Mazari was present at the G-9 police station along with a few journalists for an unrelated matter when she heard load screams of boys from a room and went there. She discovered, along with other witnesses, that SHO Cheema was brutally beating the two boys, including stepping on their faces, as they were made to lie on the floor.

The complainant asked the SHO that under what law he was beating young the boys but could not get answer. The journalists had recorded the conversation. The SHO attempted to cover his action by putting the boys' names in three dormant FIRs.

During hearing at the NCRC, lack of institutional accountability will also be discussed.

Day for prevention of child abuse

In Pakistan, children are at the risk of various forms and types of abuse, including child labour, corporal punishment, child sexual abuse, harmful traditions such as child marriages. While child marriage affects both boys and girls, girls are significantly more likely to be affected.

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