Rights Watch | 22nd October 2020

Trans protection centers planned, ward set up in PIMS to cater to health needs of trans community; ten Kakrali policemen booked for murder and illegal detention in a case regarding the death of a youth due to alleged custodial torture. Elderly man appeals to the Prime Minister to bring back son who has been languishing in an Indian jail despite completing his fourteen-year prison term.

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Trans protection centers planned, ward set up in PIMS

A National Implementation Committee has been formed to set up trans protection centers to provide shelter, as well as medical and mental healthcare to the trans community. A trans ward has been established at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad under directions of the Ministry of Human Rights, which will cater to the specific medical needs of the trans community. Trans persons would often opt for self-diagnosis and self-medication, owing to their discomfort in sharing their health concerns with doctors, as well as discrimination which left them bereft of access to basic health facilities.

Ten policemen charged for murder, illegal detention in custodial torture case

Police added murder and illegal detention charges to a case lodged against ten Kakrali policemen, including Kakrali Station House Officer (SHO) Liaquat Gujjar and Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Iftikhar for the death of a youth due to alleged custodial torture.

Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) sections 302 (intended murder) and 342 (wrongful confinement) were added to the FIR, which had initially booked the ten accused under section 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person).

The victim, one Sahawt Ali of Malka village in Kharian, was picked up in a cellphone theft case, and was later released on October 6. He later died due to injuries sustained during alleged custodial torture two weeks later. Samples collected from the deceased’s body will be sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency in Lahore to determine the cause of death.

Pakistani man languishing in Indian prison despite completing 14-year sentence

Nazir Ahmed Khan (70) of Chak 103-1/L in Khanpur tehsil has appealed to the Prime Minister Imran Khan to bring back his son, Abbas Ali Khan, who is still languishing in an Indian prison despite completing his fourteen-year prison term.

While job-hunting in Lahore in 2005, Abbas Ali (who was 18 back then) had mistakenly crossed the border and was apprehended by the Indian border patrol on March 27, 2006. He was booked under sections 419, 420, 467, 471 and 20-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 3(1) A, B, C, 9, 14-F Act. Abbas Ali had completed his sentence on March 20, 2020 but was yet to be released.

Abbas Ali’s name was put on the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)/Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) lists on January 1, 2012 under then serial number of 206.