BADIN: Senior Civil Judge-II of Matli Bhopat Rai Agrani on Saturday sentenced three station house officers (SHOs) to six months’ imprisonment in a case of illegal arrest and detention of son of an aide to estranged PPP leader Dr Zulfikar Ali Mirza in May 2015.

The SHOs of Badin, Pangrio and Matli police stations, Wali Mohammad Chang, Loung Shar and Raja Naveed, respectively, were booked by Matli police on the orders of district and sessions judge of Badin Ghulam Rasool Samoon on charges of arresting and keeping in illegal detention for 10 days Deedar Mallah, son of Dr Mirza’s aide Haji Panah Mallah. The FIR was lodged by Haji Panah on May 29, 2015.

Deedar was later found in Matli police station by Matli civil judge Abdul Sattar Khaskheli when he raided the police station on the orders of district and sessions judge of Badin. It transpired that Deedar was kept at the three police stations during his detention period.

In a press statement Dr Mirza, who is former Sindh home minister, welcomed the conviction of the three police officials, who he said had victimised his supporters to please PPP leaders.

Meanwhile, all the convicts were granted bail by the same judge moments before they were being sent to jail on a surety bond of Rs50,000 each. The judge ordered the convicts’ lawyer to produce them before the district and sessions judge of Badin within a month to appeal against the conviction he had handed down to them.

Matli SHO Riaz Bijarani told Dawn that the judge had the mandate to review his verdict. Police officials would now file their plea in the court of the district and sessions judge of Badin against the ‘conviction’, he said.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2017