SARGODHA: Incarcerated lawmaker Jamshed Dasti, who is facing multiple criminal charges, was not subjected to physical torture, said a medical board formed by the government to examine his health in the wake of his allegations of torture and maltreatment by prison authorities, ARY News reported.
Taking notice of alleged torture on the lawmaker, the Punjab government had constituted a five-member medical board to examine him inside the prison.
There were no torture marks on the body of Dasti, said the medical board which examined him in prison. However, it added, he was experiencing anxiety.
The medical board in its report also dismissed the lawmaker’s allegations of cardiac pain and toothache caused by alleged torture.
A day before when MNA Dasti was brought before a court he alleged that the prison authorities had set rats and scorpions in his cell and subjected him to torture. He had also produced dead scorpions and cockroaches in the court to corroborate his claims. He said he was starved and was not provided food for six days.
Dasti was kept at Dera Ghazi Khan Central Jail but was shifted to the Sargodha district jail on the directives of the court.
In a video recording from prison van, the lawmaker had appealed to the Supreme Court and Lahore High Court to take notice of the inhuman treatment he was being meted out in prison.
Subsequently, Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Mansoor Ali Shah had taken notice of his allegations and asked the authorities to submit a report on the condition of the prison cell where Dasti was being kept, whether he was subjected to any torture in prison, and whether he has submitted any complaint in this regard.
