HYDERABAD, Sept 18: A division bench of the Sindh High Court here on Thursday ordered additional advocate-general Masood A. Noorani to inform the court whether orders calling for action against five policemen of Hyderabad district had been complied with.

The division bench, comprising Justice Mohammad Roshan Essani and Justice Amir Hani Muslim, passed the order after the SHO of Husri police station informed the court that as per the order dated Oct 1, 2002, an FIR had been lodged against the policemen.

An inquiry was ordered on Sept 17, 2002, against policemen of Husri and Hatri police stations about illegal detention of Juman Brohi for three months before being shown arrested on Sept 13.

Advocate Irfan Kalhoro had filed a criminal miscellaneous application, in which he claimed that the SHO of Hatri police station and the investigating officer, Mushtaq Talpur, had picked up Juman Brohi from his house on May 28, 2002, adding that he was not shown arrested nor was his remand obtained.

On Oct 1, 2002, registration of a criminal case was ordered against five police officials — Inspector (investigation) Mushtaq Talpur, SIPs Mehboob Shar, Ali Shar, Ibrahim Patafi and Gul Hassan — for keeping Brohi in illegal detention and making false statements before the court.

The bench had held that if the court found the policemen guilty, they, in addition to the sentence awarded by the court, shall compensate Brohi by paying him Rs25,000 each by the sub- inspectors and Rs50,000 by the inspector.

The next hearing has been fixed for Sept 25.

zakat: Sindh minister for Zakat, Ushr, Auqaf, religious and minority affairs Dr Irfan Gul Magsi has said that more than Rs100 million Zakat funds have been released for Hyderabad district.

Talking to this correspondent here on Wednesday, he said that the money would be distributed in two schemes, the regular scheme and the special package for rehabilitation.