KARACHI, May 18: Judge Dr Qamaruddin Bohra of the accountability court No 1 issued on Saturday show-cause notice to the superintendent of Central Prison, Karachi, for not releasing a convict despite the completion of his prison term.
The judge ordered Rashid Saeed, the superintendent of Central Prison, Karachi, to appear in the court on Monday and “show cause why he should not be prosecuted for making mis-statement before the court.”
The jailer had appeared on Thursday in the court on an application filed by Taufeeq Dada, nephew of Yousuf Dada.
The applicant stated that his uncle, who had completed his prison term, was not being released by the jail authorities.
The jailer was called and he stated in the court that, according to the jail record, convict Yousuf had completed his sentence period.
He stated that as per government instructions the “higher authority” had been requested for approval of release of Yousuf. He stated that approval had not yet been received.
However, he gave an undertaking to the court that Yousuf would be released on Saturday.
The prison authorities placed a letter of deputy inspector-general of prisons, Nawaz Husain, to the Sindh home secretary. The prison official, in his letter, wrote: “It is added for kind information that the sentence awarded in lieu of fine appears to be highly disproportionate to the fine amount. It will be in fairness if the attention of prosecution is kindly drawn to this aspect in the interest of justice.”
Yousuf Dada, an elderly man, had been convicted along with his son-in-law Zakaria Ghani for wilful default on repayment of bank loan.
The judge had sentenced him to two years’ rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs6,73,58,162 to the extent of his liability. In case of default on payment of fine the convict was to undergo two years’ simple imprisonment.
