Police have claimed that the autopsy reports of two women who died while in custody at a Lahore police station revealed that both suffered heart attacks, with no apparent signs of physical torture found on their bodies.
According to police, the report found no signs of physical torture on 17-and-a-half-year-old Amina and 22-year-old Anmol. The women allegedly died of heart attacks.
The two sisters-in-law were arrested on August 4 on charges of theft and fraud and reportedly died at the police station the same day.
According to the FIR registered on August 4, the women had approached the complainant’s house while begging in the street. They allegedly entered the house, asked for water and claimed that they could also perform spiritual healing.
The FIR said that the women allegedly took the complainant’s sister’s gold earrings and Rs5,000 through deception. The earrings were later returned, but the money allegedly was not.
The complainant said police were called through Rescue 15 and the two women were handed over to them. Their deaths were subsequently reported while they were in police custody.
The incident sparked controversy after the families alleged that the women had died due to severe torture in police custody.
Senior Lahore police officials, including DIG Operations Faisal Kamran, denied the allegations, saying preliminary investigations suggested that both women were drug addicts and may have died from a drug overdose.
The families rejected the claim. Saqlain, Anmol’s husband and Amina’s brother, alleged that when he saw the bodies, their clothes were torn and there were visible marks of violence on their faces and backs.
Meanwhile, Zainab Bibi, Amina’s mother and Anmol’s mother-in-law, claimed that she had seen CCTV footage from the police station showing the women appearing unharmed. She rejected the police claim that the women had been beaten by local residents.
“If they had been intoxicated, they would not have spoken to the police officer in the manner shown in the video,” she said.
Given the conflicting claims and the seriousness of the incident, a judicial inquiry was formally initiated by a judicial magistrate on the orders of the District and Sessions Judge Lahore.
