PESHAWAR: Indian prisoner Hamid Nehal Ansari suffered injuries after he was attacked twice by inmates in the Peshawar Central Prison during the last two months, his lawyer told a Peshawar High Court bench on Thursday.

Superintendent of the prison Masoodur Rehman also confirmed the incidents but insisted they’re of minor nature and that such incidents did happen in prisons.

He also told the bench consisting of Justice Mussarat Hilali and Justice Qalandar Ali Khan that Mr. Ansari, who was serving three years jail term, had been kept in the death cell.

“He (Indian prisoner) can’t be kept in a normal barrack along with other prisoners for the sake of his security,” he said.

Court orders Ansari’s foolproof security behind bars

Qazi Mohammad Anwar, lawyer for the prisoner, said his client had been kept in the death cell with a hardened criminal awaiting execution for a murder.

He said the jail superintendent should give an undertaking to the court that attacks won’t happen against his client in future.

The superintendent however said he couldn’t give a written guarantee in that regard.

He complained the jail was overcapacity as it was made for 350 people but had around 3,000 prisoners though.

The bench directed him and social activist Rukhshanda Naz, who represented Mr. Ansari’s mother Fauzia Ansari, to sit together with the Indian citizen to plan his foolproof security in prison.

It observed that the two should compile a joint report and produce it in the court.

During the hearing into an application of Mr. Ansari on Aug 2, the bench had summoned the jail superintendent.

A petition of Mr. Ansari has also been pending with the court seeking the inclusion of his period of detention prior to his conviction by a military court in his jail term.

He was convicted by a military court on Dec 17, 2015.

Qazi Anwar insisted his client was earlier kept in solitary confinement against which he had filed an application but didn’t press for it as the prison authorities had stated that it was for the sake of his safety.

He said the superintendent had promised to shift the petitioner to the prison hospital for treatment but the promise had yet to be fulfilled.

The lawyer complained a senior prison warder, too, used to beat his client on daily basis.

On that, the superintendent told the court he had suspended the warder last month and that he had been ensuring extra care of the petitioner and providing him with the best food along with milk.

He added that minor fights often happened in prisons and checking them in an overcrowded prison was difficult.

Justice Qalander Ali Khan observed that maintaining peace inside the prison was the superintendent’s responsibility.

“This is not an additional responsibility and instead, it’s a main responsibility of the prison administration,” he said.

The petitioner possessing a fake Pakistani identity card had gone missing after he was taken into custody by intelligence agencies and local police in Kohat district in Nov 2012.

Later, Jan 13 to be exact, the high court was informed in reply to a habeas corpus petition filed by his mother, Ms Fauzia Ansari, that Mr. Ansari was in the custody of Pakistan Army and was being tried by a military court.

In Feb, it emerged that the petitioner was convicted by a military court and was shifted to the Peshawar Central Prison to serve sentence.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2016