KARACHI: Judges visited prisons and ordered release of around 150 prisoners involved in minor offences on Saturday.

The prisoners had sent applications to district and sessions judges pertaining to guilty plea, bail and reduction in sureties and the judges referred the applications to the judicial magistrates concerned and directed them to visit the prisons and dispose of the pleas before the Eid.

The magistrates visited the prisons and issued release orders of around 150 prisoners by sentencing them to a period they have already spent in jail when they entered a guilty plea, granted bails and reduced the amount of sureties. The court officials said that these prisoners were involved in minor offences.

Threats to magistrate case

The police approached on Saturday an anti-terrorism court with a report seeking cancellation of a case against a police inspector for allegedly extending threats to a magistrate.

The investigating officer turned up at the ATC-III along with a C (cancel) class report for quashment of the case, but the prosecutor asked the IO to file the report before the regular court since the offence did not fall within the ambit of the anti-terror law.

The city courts police station booked Inspector Manzoor Ahmed Siddiqui under various sections of the PPC.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2014