EDITORIAL: Custodial torture has become so routine, and accepted as such over time, that the old debate about ending it would not have been triggered if recent unpleasant experiences of a couple of well-known politicians had not graced the headlines once again.
And since the government has also very recently enacted legislation that finally comprehensively criminalises this colonial relic, perhaps the fear of accountability would make public officials finally fall in line.
However, that would mean enacting long-overdue legislation will succeed where steps like ratifying UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 2010 have failed, even though all such commitments mandate the same end result, which is discouraging torture by public, especially police officials.
The most common justification for resort to torture is that the force is just too under-funded and hence not trained enough in sophisticated methods of investigation and forensic analysis to know any better.
But when beating confessions out of suspects often does not serve its purpose, and statements given under duress do not stand up in court, sticking with this practice seems to owe less to lack of training and more to lack of basic intelligence; up and down the chain of command. Besides, everybody understands well enough by now that there are two scenarios where law enforcement officials love to resort to plain old-fashioned torture to get the job done.
One is at the level of the common man who can do little about it. And police investigation teams, eager to stitch together their reports and hand the matter to prosecution, find it very convenient to strip and slap suspects for desired statements; especially since it has worked so well for them for so long.
The other is when those in power – members of the political elite as well as the powerful establishment – want to teach their opponents, who are not in power, a good lesson. That is obviously the category that allegations of torture against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Azam Swati and Shahbaz Gill fall under. Both are equally revolting, but the latter is also very sinister.
It also explains why nobody, on either side of the aisle, was too interested in legislating against torture for the longest time. Because even though this is something that all parties in parliament have suffered from, they still find it to be a very useful tool for whenever they come to power and have to settle old scores, etc.
Yet now that PTI has created so much noise about it, even though its own time in power was no different from anybody else’s, it is very important to push these investigations all the way to the end. If torture has indeed been used against its workers, or anybody else for that matter, then those responsible must be named, shamed and punished in accordance with the law.
It is increasingly clear that law officials, in a way, themselves are responsible for creating an environment where a lot of people can dodge the spotlight by claiming torture, even when nobody put electric wires to their genitals in custody.
Once again, the only way to remove the veil of mystery from this shady business is to make laws that forbid it, and then also make sure that those laws are implemented. The proof of the pudding is always in the eating.
That is why the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act, 2022 will only be worth its name, not to mention the time and effort that has gone into it, if it finally restricts public servants to their proper places.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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