Overview
- A three-judge bench led by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, with Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Naeem Akhtar Afghan, rejected the officers’ leave-to-appeal petitions.
- Head Constable Khalid Mehmood and Constables Riaz Hussain and Safdar Ali were found in a departmental inquiry to have unlawfully detained and tortured Zaryab Khan in June 2020.
- The inquiry officer proposed a pay reduction on October 9, 2020, but the Dera Ghazi Khan RPO, after show-cause hearings, enhanced the punishment to dismissal on December 12, 2020.
- Departmental appeals were dismissed on June 8, 2023, and the Punjab Service Tribunal upheld the dismissals on January 17, 2024.
- The Court termed such conduct grave misconduct violating constitutional protections of dignity and liberty and called for effective external oversight to curb custodial torture and extrajudicial killings.