Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Shahbaz Gill has revealed that he was subjected to sexual violence while in police custody after he was arrested on charges of sedition.
“Thats absolutely true,” Gill said when asked by journalist Matiullah Jan in the court premises on Wednesday whether the allegations were true.
The incarcerated PTI leader went on to add that his “testes (testicles) and penis were given electric shocks.
“This is the sexual violence I was talking about..to force me to give any statement against anyone,” the PTI leader maintained.
Earlier today, Islamabad High Court ordered the Interior Ministry to investigate claims that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Shahbaz Gill was tortured while in police custody after he was arrested on charges of sedition.**
“The allegations of torture cannot be ignored,” the court said as it ordered the probe. In a written order Wednesday, the court noted that the medical board constituted to review Gill’s condition didn’t mention violence in its report.
Gill was arrested on August 9 after he spoke against state institutions on a television show. A case was registered against him under Pakistan’s treason laws at Kohsar police station. He was booked under Sections 124-A (sedition) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).
Imran Khan has claimed that Gill was tortured while in policy custody for 24 hours after being arrested from Bani Gala. On Wednesday, the court said that the Islamabad police IG had denied he was tortured but the medical officer recorded that marks of violence were found on him.
The court order said that no one can be subjected to violence in the guise of collecting evidence. The Constitution and courts safeguard the rights of prisoners and to safe them from torture, it added.
The court directed that the investigation be led by a former high court judge and that an SSP-rank officer may supervise the physical remand to ensure no such further accusations are made.
Meanwhile, a district and sessions court in Islamabad has rejected a request by the police to extend the remand to question Shahbaz Gill in the sedition case. Their permission to keep him in custody for questioning expired today. Instead, Judicial Magistrate Malik Aman issued an order for Gill to be sent on judicial remand (judicial lock-up).
