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| January 23, 2003 | Thursday | Ziqa’ad 19, 1423 |
Indian court acquits Pakistani
NEW DELHI, Jan 22: A Pakistani national arrested by the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in connection with a drugs case has been acquitted by a city court after three years when it became apparent that DRI had arrested wrong person in the offence.
According to a news report carried by a Daily “The Pioneer”, Special Judge R Kiran Nath acquitted Liyakat Ali, a Pakistani national who had been arrested by the DRI in February 2000 on the wrong presumption that he was one Tariq Mohammad of Pakistan.
High Commission for Pakistan, New Delhi has approached the Indian government to ascertain the veracity of the news and make appropriate arrangements for the subsequent repatriation of the Pakistani national back to his homeland.
Liyakat Ali, the Pakistani national released by the court this month after arrested by Department of Revenue Intelligence in February 2000, remained in the “wrongful detention” for over three years, added the report.
Ali had been arrested from a hotel in Daryaganj in connection with the recovery of 4.9 kg of heroin from three persons in 1998. One of the three accused in the statement to the DRI had alleged that one Tariq Mohammad, a Pakistani national had offered him money to take the drugs to India, the report said.
DRI had been making efforts to trace out Tariq Mohammad and arrested Liyakat Ali instead and produced him in the court as Tariq, maintained the report adding, when presented before the court, Ali said that after his arrest he had been tortured and coerced by the DRI into writing that he was Tariq Mohammad and his signatures were forcefully obtained.
“The court in its order stated, “the prosecution has miserably failed to establish the identity of the accused as Tariq Mohammad.” When the proceedings began, Ali’s father came from Pakistan to India and placed on record the original passport, birth certificate, school records etc of Ali to prove his identity. All clearly indicated the accused’s name as Liyakat Ali.
In the order, the court observed, from these documents, the accused has been able to bring home his point that his was a case of mistaken identity that he was actually Liyakat Ali whose parentage and address were different from that of Tariq Mohammad whom the DRI was searching”.
Pulling the DRI for its inefficient approach to the case the court said, “ the documents have been on record for more than one year, but the prosecution never bothered to get them verified.”—APP
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