HRCP Flags Sheikhupura Case and Exposes Gaps in Pakistan Anti-Torture Law
Surraiya Bibi filed a petition at the Lahore High Court in 2023 seeking information about her missing brother-in-law and nephew after law enforcement officers allegedly abducted them in Pakistan’s Punjab province. During the ensuing court proceedings, police acknowledged that both men had been killed three months earlier in a disputed encounter in Sheikhupura and secretly buried without notifying their relatives, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
Surraiya Bibi’s Court Battle Exposes Secret Burials
International Claims Collide With Domestic Reality
The case, documented as Surraiya Bibi v. Regional Police Officer Sheikhupura, gained international attention when Pakistani officials presented it before the United Nations Committee Against Torture as an example of progress in addressing custodial abuse.
However, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan argued that the underlying facts expose severe structural shortcomings in the country’s accountability mechanisms.
Ignored Statutes and Stalled Investigations
Under Pakistani law, every encounter death triggers a mandatory immediate inquest, and any allegations of custodial torture must be referred directly to the Federal Investigation Agency. According to the rights organization, neither statutory requirement was properly executed following the Sheikhupura killings.
More than two years after the deaths occurred, authorities have completed no formal investigations, filed no prosecutions, and held no law enforcement officials accountable.
Zero Convictions Under the Anti-Torture Act
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan stated that since the enactment of the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act in 2022, no Federal Investigation Agency probe under the legislation has produced a conviction. The organization asserted that the Sheikhupura incident demonstrates how encounter killings continue to bypass legal scrutiny despite statutory safeguards designed to guarantee justice.