Fawad Chaudhry submits plea for medical examination amid fears of custodial torture

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry, fearing custodial torture, submitted a petition for his medical examination to the Kohsar Police Station’s magistrate on Sunday, Pakistan-based Geo News reported. The PTI leader in his petition said the federal police are not conducting his medical test which is a violation of constitutional rights. He alleged that the police had mentally and physically tortured PTI leaders, Senator Azam Khan Swati and Shahbaz Gill. “The police might do the same as they did in the past and this is why they are not conducting my medical,” he said, as quoted by Geo News. He urged the court to take immediate notice of the violation of orders. According to Geo News, the Islamabad Police have shifted Chaudhry to Lahore where his photogrammetry test will be carried out. H i s v o i c e w i l l b e m a t c h e d in the forensic laborator y. Chaudhry was arrested on Wednesday under sedition charges for allegedly threatening members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) during a media talk. A case was registered against Chaudhary at the Kohsar police station in Islamabad on the complaint of Election Commission Secretary Umar Hameed, Geo News reported. An FIR by Hameed cited a controversial speech by Chaudhry, in which he said that “those who become part of the caretaker government (in Punjab) will be pursued until they are punished”. Chaudhary’s two-day physical remand was recently approved by the sessions court of Islamabad in the sedition case. His eight-day physical remand was dismissed by the district and sessions court as it asked the authorities to present the leader in court on January 27, Geo TV reported