Flawed investigations

THE botched case of a young Karachi businessman, Mir Raza Ali, who died under suspicious circumstances, took a new turn recently when his parents alleged kidnapping, torture and murder, while the police, at least initially, leaned towards suicide. The police surgeon questioned the post-mortem report on television; the deceased’s father filed a plea seeking exhumation of the body and the constitution of a medico-legal board. A day after the court’s permission, exhumation was postponed after the family objected to the sudden reconstitution of the board. Regrettably, reports submitted by medico-legal surgeons have been disputed with disturbing regularity in the country. Criminal cases rest on…