Indian prisoner dies of 'torture' in Pakistan jail

CHANDIGARH:  Bhagwan Dass, an Indian prisoner lodged in the Landhi Jail of Karachi in Pakistan, has died under mysterious circumstances in the jail premises, Ansar Burney, human rights activist and former Pakistan Minister for Human Rights, told media on Tuesday.
 




Burney alleged that "torture" by Pakistani jail authorities seemed to be reason for the death of the Indian convict who was quite young. Fears had been expressed and there was evidence that pointed to the fact that the deceased Indian fisherman was regularly being tortured, allegedly through 'electric shocks'.
 
The death of Bhagwan Dass comes close on the heels of the visit of a four-member Indian delegation of the first Indo-Pak Joint Judicial Committee (JJC), which visited Pakistan to survey the condition of Indian prisoners lodged in Pakistani jails. The JJC had been constituted last year.
 
While India has expressed shock over the death of Bhagwan, a young Indian fisherman convicted for straying into the Pakistani waters, the death has also caused furore among the human rights activists in Pakistan who have been working for humane treatment for foreign prisoners, including Indians lodged in Pakistani jails.
 
Burney said the Ansar Burney Trust, an international human and civil rights organisation, has demanded a judicial inquiry into the death of the Indian convict.
 
Bhagwan had been caught by Pakistan Maritime Force in April last year and was incarcerated in the Karachi jail since his conviction. As many as 415 Indian prisoners are currently lodged in the Karachi jail, out of which 34 were minors housed at the young offenders' school while over 200 fishermen were also languishing in various Pakistani jails.