PESHAWAR, Aug 21: A local court on Tuesday acquitted three men charged in the Peshawar central prison mutiny case about seven years ago in which more than a dozen prisoners and policemen were injured, some prisoners had escaped and various portions of the prison were set on fire.

An additional district and sessions judge, Fazal Sattar, observed that the prosecution failed to prove its case against the accused persons.

The three accused men, Nek Amal Shinwari, Shamshad and Noor Akbar, were charged under section 120-B, 123, 223, 224, 324, 353, 427, 434, 435, and 436 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The prosecution claimed that the three of them had helped the prisoners to escape, fired at the police and had also set on fire different sections and barracks of the prison on fire.

The occurrence had taken place on Oct 29, 2000. The enraged prisoners, who were protesting against the attitude of the then prison’s superintendent, had occupied various sections of the prison.

The police had used tear gas and had also resorted to firing to control the protesting prisoners. The police claimed that the accused men had also instigated other prisoners for the mutiny.

The vice president of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association, Mian Abdul Fayyaz, appeared for the accused men and contended that they were falsely implicated in the case.

He argued that the evidence of different prosecution witnesses was in conflict with each other.

The counsel argued that the prisoners had staged demonstration against the oppressive policies of the then superintendent and the accused had nothing to do with the mutiny.

Mr Fayyaz argued that it was not clear to the prosecution as to which of the accused had burnt which portion of the prison.

He added that there were about 3,000 prisoners in the prison and the three of them could not be charged for the entire incident.