11 September 2004	Saturday	25 Rajab 1425

ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: A complainant and a detenue on Friday burst into tears before a Supreme Court bench during a contempt of court appeal conceding that they had exonerated the police in the affidavit due to pressure and torture.

Complainant Farman Ali Bhatti and his brother Rashid Ahmed, who was illegally detained by a police official, told a three- member SC bench that they had given the affidavit in favour of police due to pressure and torture.

The three-member bench comprised Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Rana Bhagwandas and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi. The affidavit tends to change the date of arrest of Rashid Ahmed by claiming that he was arrested on June 28, 2003 instead of June 21, and that June 21 was wrongly mentioned in the habeas corpus petition of Farman Ali Bhatti filed with the Lahore High Court due to some misunderstanding.

The same SC bench on Wednesday last had sent Mohammad Shafi Lashari, Sub-Inspector (SI) Anti-Car Lifting Investigation Cell of Chuhang police station, Lahore, involved in detaining Rashid Ahmed, on a 15-day jail term for misleading the court about the arrest of the detenue.

Earlier the Lahore High Court had observed that Mr Lashari had not only illegally detained the detenue but also tortured him besides fabricating a bogus record of his arrest subsequent to the institution of a habeas corpus case only to mislead the court. Thus the sub-inspector obstructed the due process of law.

During the hearing, the SC bench also directed the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Lahore, Rana Shahid to submit his affidavit assuring the apex court that he would present a challan of the sub-inspector to the court within a week by overruling his earlier report that the police were innocent in the case and that he would personally pursue the matter, Assistant Advocate General Afshan Ghazanfar, who helped the DSP in preparing the affidavit as per court's order, told Dawn.

The bench also reprimanded the DSP for presenting a "Zimni" (supporting document) to it suggesting that the police were innocent in the matter. The court, however, dispose of the matter with the direction that complainant Farman Ali Bhatti reserved the right to re-open the matter any time in case of non-cooperation or pressure from the police.