Prisoner tortured: BJP slams Pakistan for inhuman acts

New Delhi, Mar 27: Amidst growing outrage over the brutal torture of an Indian

in the Kot Lakhpat Jail at Lahore, the

has urged the UPA government to impress upon

that such inhuman actions on its part are unacceptable.

Interacting with newspersons here on Wednesday, the main opposition party's spokesperson Balbir Punj pointed out that earlier this year Pakistani troops decapitated an Indian jawan just days before the unfortunate prisoner Chamel Singh was assaulted by jail staff.

Lance Naik Hemraj of the 13 Rajputana Rifles regiment was beheaded near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir on Jan 8. The attackers who had crossed the LoC under the cover of fog also mutilated the body of Hemraj's colleague, Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh, before retreating back to Pakistani border posts.

"I can understand people fighting a war and somebody get killed. But this sort of cruelty, inhumanity, which has been evident on the part of Pakistan while dealing with India and Indians is really very sad. It shows the amount of hatred they have towards India somewhere and particularly Hindus...," the BJP leader noted.

"The least the Government of India can do is to...make it clear to Pakistan, once and for all, that we will not tolerate this sort of inhuman behaviour in the future at all," Balbir Punj stressed.

The Jammu and Kashmir government also expressed concern after the media highlighted the autopsy report of Chamel Singh. Even though doctors at the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore declared him dead as soon as he was brought from the Kot Lakhpat Jail on Jan 15, the Pakistani government surprisingly ordered a post mortem only after several weeks.

Anyway, the autopsy suggested that wardens at the jail had thrashed Chamel Singh. At least four serious injuries were found on the prisoner's body. The fact that one of his bones was fractured clearly indicated the extent of the torture he had to endure in prison.

Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo, minister of state for home in Jammu and Kashmir, told reporters in Srinagar that "We will call for the details ... we will take up the matter with the External Affairs Ministry."

Since Chamel Singh was a native of Jammu district, Kichloo said that the state government will try to ensure the return of his mortal remains.

OneIndia News (with agency inputs)