18 February 2004	Wednesday	26 Zilhaj 1424

PESHAWAR, Feb 17: A convicted boy, Sher Khan, whose release without the orders of the Supreme Court stirred a controversy, was handed over to the Punjab police after his arrest by officials of FR (Frontier Region) Kohat at Dara Adamkhel.

The boy was handed over to a police party belonging to Mianwali police, which took him to Punjab on Monday. The Supreme Court had taken exception to the release of the convict, sentenced to death by the trial court, by the officials of Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, after a presidential notification through which death penalties of all the juvenile offenders were commuted to life terms on Dec 13, 2001.

A full bench of the Supreme Court has already summoned the police chiefs of the NWFP and Punjab and the NWFP home secretary and has fixed Feb 20 for the next hearing.

An official of the tribal administration of FR Kohat told Dawn that Sher Khan, who belongs to Mianwali district, was arrested from Zarghunkhel area of Dara Adamkhel on Sunday.

"As the administration was aware about the orders of the Supreme Court regarding Sher Khan, the Punjab police was forthwith informed about his arrest," the official said.

During last hearing on Feb 12, a full bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, had expressed annoyance over the failure of the NWFP and Punjab police to arrest the convict. The court had already suspended the concerned jail superintendent, Afzal Gujar.

The boy, stated to be a juvenile offender by the prison authorities, was sentenced to death by the trial court. His appeal against conviction was dismissed by the Lahore High Court.

When his appeal was pending before the Supreme Court, President Pervez Musharraf after a meeting with the secretary-general of the Amnesty International, Irene Khan, commuted death sentences of all the juvenile offenders in the country in 2001. Subsequently, the prison authorities released Sher Khan without waiting for the outcome of his appeal before the Supreme Court.