LAHORE: A judicial magistrate has initiated an inquiry under Section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) into the suspicious death of two underage girls in Lahore police custody on Aug 4, as mystery continues to surround the horrific, tragic incident. The judicial inquiry was launched after the families of the victims – Amina and Anmol – demanded an impartial investigation into what happened to the girls in the police custody for well over two hours – from the time of their arrest to calling a Rescue 1122 team to the Township police station on Aug 4. Section 176 of the CrPC empowers a magistrate to inquire into the cause of death when a person dies in police custody or under some suspicious circumstances. The law also empowers the magistrate to order exhumation of a body for the postmortem examination, besides recording statements and examining witnesses on oath. Dawn spoke to police officers familiar with the matter and attempted to map the sequence of events from the girls’ arrest to their deaths. According to an official, around 2:54pm on Aug 4 an emergency call was received on police helpline 15 from complainant, Zeshan Latif, who alleged that two girls entered his house and fraudulently stole gold jewellery and cash belonging to his wife. A sub-inspector (SI) of the Township police, Ghulam Ghous, reached the scene at 3:11pm and brought the two girls to the police station, where they were handed over to the duty clerk (Muharrar), Tasnim Arif, at 3:26pm. Mr Latif subsequently submitted an application, which was e-tagged at 4:40pm, and an FIR was registered at 4:50pm against the two girls. The Township police station then recorded a report at 5:20pm regarding the transfer of the girls’ custody from the operations wing to the investigation staff. According to the official, the operations wing’s muharrar claimed that, following registration of the FIR, he handed over the girls to the investigation wing Muharrar Bilal, in accordance with the prescribed procedure. The situation took a grim turn shortly afterwards when, at 6:03pm, the central office of Rescue 1122 received an emergency call from the Township police regarding the deteriorating condition of both girls. A Rescue 1122 team reached the police station at 6:14pm and found one of the girls “almost dead”, while the other was unconscious, according to the official. Both were shifted to Jinnah Hospital, where doctors pronounced the unconscious girl dead. The other girl, who was reportedly in critical condition, also died shortly after in the hospital. As news of the girls’ death spread, senior police officers from the Saddar Division’s operations and investigation wings reached the Township police station at around 9:30pm and sensing gravity of the situation apprised higher authorities about the incident. The official says that incident triggered a row between the operations and investigation wings, with officers from both sides reportedly shifting the responsibility for the girls’ custody onto each other. The time between 3:11pm, when the girls were taken into custody, and 6:03pm, when Rescue 1122 was called, is therefore crucial in the judicial inquiry, he adds. Video footage that surfaced after the incident shows the girls apparently in a relatively stable condition when they were brought to the police station. In one recording, a police official can be seen questioning them. Another video recorded by a camera installed in the duty clerk’s room shows Amina and Anmol sitting on chairs inside the police station. They appear conscious and are seen interacting with the duty clerk before leaving the room. Police officials, however, say that details of the girls’ interaction and interrogation are not covered by the station’s security cameras. Immediately after the incident, the investigation police claimed that drug overdose was the likely cause of the girls’ death. The claim, however, has yet to be conclusively established through the postmortem reports, which are crucial evidence in determining the death cause. Police were still awaiting the final postmortem reports when Dawn spoke to officials. Investigation SSP Mohammad Naveed strongly rejected allegations that the girls had been tortured in custody. “Though I am not aware whether the final postmortem reports have been issued, I can assure you that the allegations of custodial torture are absolutely false and misleading,” he claimed. The SSP alleges that both girls were chronic drug users and had apparently consumed a strong addictive substance before being brought to the police station. “During their custody at the police station, they fainted, probably because of the impact of the drugs they had consumed, and later died of the same cause,” he claimed. Mr Naveed maintains that as a major portion of the girls interrogation had been captured by surveillance cameras installed at the police station, it shows girls were not maltreated in custody. He says the judicial inquiry had been initiated at the request of senior police officers under Section 176 of the CrPC and that its findings would bring out the circumstances of the deaths. Asked why the case had not been referred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the SSP said the agency is usually asked to investigate the cases involving allegations that a suspect had died as a result of custodial torture or killed in a police encounter. “This case is different, as it concerns the deaths of two suspects in custody, and there was no need for an FIA investigation,” he insisted. The judicial inquiry is expected to examine the circumstances surrounding the girls’ detention, the transfer of their custody between the operations and investigation wings, the available CCTV footage, statements of police officials and witnesses, and the postmortem reports’ findings to dig out the facts. Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2026