ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has confirmed that the state bears a constitutional responsibility to protect the right to life and prevent custodial torture and deaths, as it dismissed appeals filed by two former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials accused in a high-profile custodial killing case.
Furthermore, the case concerns the 2020 death of Zaryab Khan, who was detained in Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, and later died in police custody.
It was alleged that two FIA officials tortured the detainee, resulting in his death. Although they were acquitted by a criminal court, the regional police officer dismissed them from service for misconduct.
The officials approached the Supreme Court, arguing that their dismissal was unjustified following their acquittal.
In this regard, seven-page judgment dated August 21 and authored by Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, the Supreme Court upheld the earlier decision and rejected the officials’ petitions.
The judgment underlined that the Constitution imposes an obligation on the state to safeguard citizens’ right to life and prevent any form of custodial abuse.
In this sense, Justice Mandokhail focused on that the right to life is a “supreme human right” recognised in major international treaties.
He noted that constitutional protections against illegal detention, torture, brutality and extra-judicial killings form the foundation of the country’s legal system. The judge also observed that custodial torture has, at times, led to extrajudicial killings carried out under a perceived sense of impunity.
The ruling cited multiple constitutional provisions, including Articles 4, 10 and 14, affirming that no action detrimental to a person’s life, liberty or dignity is permissible without due process.
It reasserted that detainees must be informed of the grounds of their arrest and produced before a magistrate within 24 hours.
A while back, an explosion of a cylinder happened in the Supreme Court building, and multiple employees were wounded.
The court held that the officials involved in Zaryab Khan’s detention had violated their legal duties by holding him unlawfully and subjecting him to torture, actions deemed as grave misconduct under service rules.
