Torture and Custodial Deaths in Pakistan: Effectiveness of Anti-Torture Laws and Compliance with International Conventions

Abstract

Tortures and in-custodial deaths remain a major human rights issue in Pakistan as they erode the rule of law, and destroy citizen trust in the law enforcers. Although this may be counter-intuitive in regard to the constitutional protection that renders individuals as persons and forbids the use of torture, empirical data show that the problem of custodial abuse still comes out in many parts of the country. Pakistan has signed major documents of human-right, including the United Nations Convention against Torture and the International Covenant of the civil and political rights. The state has tried to fulfill the international obligations, in an attempt to do so, it promulgated the Torture and Custodial Death Prevention and Punishment Act in 2022. However, there is still a concern in the substantive functioning and the working implementation of the law. This study examines the legal framework of torture and death in custody within Pakistan, including how much it has the ability to protect those who are in custody. At the same time, it reviews the compliance levels by Pakistan with international human-rights laws against torture. This paper utilizes a qualitative legal research approach to investigate both constitutional provisions, stertorous act, international conventions, human rights, documents, and a collection of appropriately selected case studies to shed light on the topic of custodial violence. The results indicate that despite the legal framework created to criminalize torture, there are extensive gaps in implementing the legal framework. Among the major barriers are weak law enforcement, lack of strong independent investigative system, institutionalized resistance within the policing organizations and limited structures of accountability. The given work adds to the academic discussions as it outlines the most important weaknesses in the existing legal framework and offers specific legislative and institutional changes that will improve the protection of detainees and prevent the emergence of custodial torture in Pakistan.