RAWALPINDI: Representatives of National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) visited the Death Cell of Central Jail in Adiala, Rawalpindi, to probe the suicide case of an inmate convicted under PPC 302 for murdering three minors.
The NCHR team, including Chief Coordinator Ghulam Murtaza Rana and Law Officer Mian Waqar Ahmed, visited the Central Jail to follow up on the improvements made in the Central Jail in the light of Islamabad High Court (IHC) directions, according to a statement issued here on Sunday.
The team visited the Death Cell and examined the investigation reports of the suicide case of prisoner Nadeem Ahmad, the statement said, adding that the team members met the witnesses and jail administration regarding the case.
The NCHR team was informed that Nadeem Ahmad committed suicide by hanging himself in a washroom of a jail cell on January 1, while other inmates were busy meeting their relatives during the meeting hours, the statement said.
The statement quoted an investigation report by the jail authorities suggesting that Nadeem suffered from psychiatric issues and was on medical/ psychiatric treatment.
It says that since Nadeem’s punishment, no family members had ever come to meet him. “It appears that he undertook suicide due to severe depression,” the statement said.
The NCHR team also met with the officials of jail administration, jail doctors and physiologists and interviewed a number of prisoners, the press release said.
The team noted that despite directions issued by IHC for improvement in medical facilities, only one doctor was available in the jail hospital and some of the basic medicines like insulin and psychiatric medications were out of stock.
According to the statement, the report submitted by the NCHR team stated that there was only one female psychiatric officer working in the jail on attachment basis.
The report said that overcrowding still exists in the jail as there were about 6000 prisoners against the available space of about 2200 prisoners. It mentions that, despite IHC directions, no action had been taken so far for the transfer of prisoners to their home districts, particularly to prisons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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