Salahuddin Ayubi, who had gone viral online in a video of him allegedly robbing an ATM, had died in police custody a day after his arrest; his father Muhammad Afzaal had claimed he had undergone lethal persecution by the police, a claim the Punjab Forensic Authority have now confirmed. The post mortem report described marks on the deceased’s right hand, right leg and near his right eye upon its release.
A medical board led by Sheikh Zayed Hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Ghulam Rabbani, said that it was of “unanimous opinion” that the torture marks on Salahuddin’s body were “ante-mortem (occurring before death) in nature & caused by Blunt Means — confirming ante-mortem physical violence”.
Salahuddin’s father had lodged a case against three police officials over his son’s custodial death. Mr. Afzaal had also attested that his son had suffered a cognitive impairment.
“My son had been suffering from a mental illness since childhood,” Afzaal said. He said Salahuddin was admitted to a mental institute in Chaman for a year and a half but there was no improvement in his health.
“We had written [tattooed] our house address on his arm, because his mind didn’t work properly,” he said.