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| October 5, 2005 | Wednesday | Sha’aban 30, 1426 |
Jailbreak: guilty official escapes action
FAISALABAD, Oct 4: The bureaucracy managed to thwart action against former head of the Faisalabad Central Prison who was held guilty in last year’s jailbreak. Inquiry officers had recommended an appropriate action against the jail employees, including its superintendent Mian Salik Jalal. However, the superintendent was promoted to the rank of DIG, not to speak of punishment.
Information gleaned by Dawn reveals that the former jail superintendent is a close relative of a senior government servant, who has till date helped him eschew action by throwing dust in the eyes of the chief minister and even the Supreme Court.
As goes reports, two prisoners — Sabir Husain (a resident of Jhang), who was sentenced to 25-years rigorous imprisonment and Muhammad Ishtiaq (of Toba Tek Singh), who was sentenced to 42-year RI — escaped from the jail on the night between Dec 24 and 25, 2004.
After a lapse of almost 16 hours, Mian Salik Jalal, the then superintendent, informed the area police on telephone about the incident and asked them to register a case. Although the Saddar police had registered a case under section 223 and 224 of PPC, not a single official of the jail was nominated as being responsible for the jailbreak.
The police, however, recorded statements of the superintendent and other officials and declared 12 employees — assistant superintendent Muhammad Naeem, wardens Ghulam Rasool, Muhammad Imtiaz, Ghulam Nabi, Azhar Hayat, Muhammad Younis, Ghulam Abbas, Muhammad Javed, Muhammad Bakhsh, Muhammad Ashraf, Noor Ahmad and Muhammad Nawaz responsible. They submitted an incomplete challan in a court for trial.
Meanwhile, on Dec 25, some 16 other officials — Javed Afzal, deputy superintendents Mian Hafeezur Rehman and Muhammad Naseem, assistant superintendents Irfan Suleman and Nasrullah, warders Khalid Yaqoob, Ghulam Abbas, Azhar Hayat, Noor Ahmad, Hakim Ali, Ghulam Akbar, Zafar Iqbal, Younis and Muhammad Javed — were suspended by the then IG prisons. They are still under suspension.
A reference (vide memo No C&E/5203) was made to the home department and IG (Prisons) Salahuddin Ahmad Khan Niazi for the suspension of Mian Salik on Dec 25, but no action was taken.
On the very next morning of the incident, the IG (prisons) had ordered a detailed inquiry and appointed Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal (who is currently serving as DIG (prisons of southern zone) an inquiry officer. The inquiry officer inspected the barrack of the escaped prisoners and jail wall.
After recording the statements of 17 jail employees and examining the relevant documents, he declared in his report deputy superintendents Mian Hafeezur Rehman, S. Javed Afzal, assistant superintendents Irfan Suleman, Muhammad Naseem, Riaz Ahmad Khan, chief warder Ghulam Muhammad, SG warder Khalid Yaqoob and warders Noor Ahmad, Muhammad Ashraf, Azhar Hayat, Wajid Ali, Muhammad Mujtaba, Muhammad Nawaz Saqi, Muhammad Younis, Muhammad Javed, Ghulam Abbas and Ghulam Ali guilty of negligence and misconduct.
The inquiry officer also held Mian Salik responsible for committing the acts of commission and omission and observed that “although (Salik) is not directly responsible for the escape, he can’t be absolved of the crime for he is responsible for the jail security and management.”
“Stereotype reports were presented to him (superintendent) daily by his subordinates, but he failed to detect the security gaps. Nor did he take cognizance of mismanagement in the jail,” read the report.
The inquiry officer further observed that the superintendent, according to the record of the last three months, was negligent and, thus, he failed to perform his duties efficiently as required under rule No 939, 940, 945, 946 & 955 (iii)(a) of PPR 1978. Therefore, disciplinary proceedings may be initiated against him, he recommended.
In the light of the report, show-cause notices for removal from service were framed against the jail employees by the IG (prisons) and submitted to the provincial home secretary (who is the competent authority) for approval to be further issued to jail superintendent Mian Salik.
However, the matter has been kept pending there since Feb 16, 2005, and the department quotes one pretext or the other for an inordinate delay. Mian Salik was rather promoted in March 2005 and posted Rawalpindi Zone DIG (prisons) — a post he is still working against.
On the other hand, the remaining 16 jail officials are still under suspension.
Responding to a query made by the chief minister on Jan 8, the IG (prisons) said jail superintendent Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal had conducted the inquiry and declared 21 officials, including the former superintendent, guilty of negligence.
The staff concerned had been placed under suspension and a reference made to the home department for action against Mian Salik.
Subsequently, the Supreme Court learnt about the incident when it took up a jail petition for leave to appeal No 351 of 2004 (Sabir Husain Vs The State).
Since the petition was barred by 112 days, the court asked the superintendent to obtain an application for condemnation of delay from the petitioner and forward the same to the court.
In response to it, the superintendent sent a letter informing the court that convicted prisoner Sabir Husain had escaped from the jail.
The court passed the following order: “The IG (prisons) should thoroughly inquire into the lapse of the officials concerned since the incident could not have been occurred without their connivance or dereliction.
“In view of the above order of the court, I (registrar) have been directed to bring the matter to you for holding a thorough inquiry into it and taking suitable action against the delinquent jail officials.
A report may please be sent to the undersigned within a month positively for placing the same before the court for perusal/further orders.
The registrar once again issued a letter on Aug 3, 2005 for not receiving the inquiry report and reminded the IG to submit a report within a week. “In case of failure on your part, the matter will be placed before the court for appropriate orders.”
The IG while responding to it through a letter No C&E/2005/3560-9 of Aug 8, 2005, took a U-turn by declaring the inquiry conducted by Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal as a preliminary one. He stated that 16 jail staffers, who were prima facie found guilty of inefficiency and misconduct, were placed under suspension. He said a fresh inquiry was being conducted in the matter.
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