Amidst rising cases of custodial deaths, the Punjab police have banned the use of cellphones by officers while on duty and barred them from capturing videos of other police personnel on duty. The ban comes after several cases came to light in recent days of suspects dying in "illegal detention" of Punjab police due to alleged torture. According to a letter sent to all the officers by the additional inspector general (operations), it was stated that it had been observed that police officials were using mobile phones while on duty even though "clear directions in this regard have already been conveyed to all the field formations".
"Frequent violations of these directions/SOPs reflect badly on the performance of supervising officers," the letter said and emphasised that it was the responsibility of the field formations to get the instructions implemented "in letter and spirit".
"In future, no officer below the rank of station house officer (SHO) or in-charge of a deployed duty will use cellphone while on duty," the AIG directed and said that it was "strictly forbidden" to make a video of police officers on duty or upload a video of police officers performing their duty.
He said any violations of the directives will entail "severe departmental action" against the official involved and their supervisory officer.
It may be reminded that at least three cases of police torture and subsequent deaths have been emerged in last week after their videos had gone viral on social media, showing some suspects in a distressed state while in illegal detention of police. On September 1, Salahuddin Ayubi, a man who was said to be mentally disabled, had died in police custody in Rahim Yar Khan.
On the same day, a middle-aged man had passed away in Lahore after allegedly being tortured by Gujjarpura police in an illegal torture cell
that was unearthed last month.
Earlier this week, a gardener named Amir Masih also died after being brutally beaten in an illegal torture cell established in the limits of North Cantonment police station. According to his autopsy report, Amir was subjected to severe torture as his ribs were fractured and his arms, back and feet bore torture marks.