KARACHI, Feb 1: A judicial magistrate raided the Shah Latif Town police station on Tuesday and recovered two men apparently detained illegally in the lock-up.

Judicial Magistrate (Malir) Ashfaq Mughal also ordered the release of the two men — Ghulam Sarwar and Mohammad Rizwan — on personal bonds and directed the station house officer and an assistant sub-inspector to appear before the district and sessions court (Malir) on Wednesday.

Both the men, believed to be kept in wrongful confinement, were found in the lock-up when the magistrate along with an applicant and his lawyer raided the police station on the orders of the district and sessions judge (Malir).

Court sources said that the police failed to produce any FIR against the victims to substantiate their detention at the police station.

The police, however, produced an entry made in the daily diary under Section 54 (when police may arrest without warrant) of the criminal procedure code regarding the arrest of one of them, Rizwan. However, it did not benefit the police since the victims had been detained for the last couple of days and the entry appeared to be doubtful, and the magistrate got the detainees freed on personal bonds, they added.

The magistrate will submit his report in court on Wednesday.

Allah Jorio filed a habeas corpus application under Section 491 of the criminal procedure code in court stating that the police picked up his brother, Ghulam Sarwar, in Qamar Goth on the morning of Jan 30 and detained him at the Shah Latif Town police station.

He stated that one of his relatives, Rizwan, went to the police station to meet the captive, but the police also detained him.

The applicant alleged that the police were demanding money for the release of the victims saying that they had been unlawfully detained at the police station for the past two days and prayed to the court for their recovery.

After a preliminary hearing, the district and sessions judge (Malir) directed the judicial magistrate to carry out a raid on the information of the applicant and recover the victims if found in wrongful confinement.

Warrants against policemen

A judicial magistrate on Tuesday issued warrants for the arrest of five policemen and a medico-legal officer for not appearing in court to record their statements in two separate cases.

The police arrested Faizan in 2009 within the remit of the Boat Basin police station for allegedly possessing illicit weapons and booked him in a case (FIR 564/09) under Section 13-D of the Arms Ordinance. However, prosecution witnesses — Inspector Mohammad Nawaz Chattha, Head Constable Mohammad Ali and Constable Zulifqar Anwar — did not appear in court to record their testimonies despite court orders.

In the second case, accused Danish was charged with possessing an unlicensed weapon and a case was registered in 2009 against him under Section 13-D of the Arms Ordinance at the Kharadar police station.

Earlier, the court had issued a number of notices to Sub-Inspector Iftikhar Haider, ASI Madha Hussain and MLO Dr Iftikhar with direction to appear in court and record their statements. However, they did not turn up.

The court asked the police high-ups to arrest the witnesses and produce them in court till Feb 19 and Feb 8, respectively.