KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday reserved order on the provincial government’s appeal challenging the grant of bail to former jail officials over the escape of two militants from the Central Prison, Karachi.

A two-judge bench reserved the order to April 5 after hearing arguments from the lawyers of superintendent Faheem Anwar Memon and assistant superintendent Abdul Rehman Shaikh, who were arrested after the incident.

The two prisoners, Shaikh Mohammad Mumtaz alias Firaun alias Sher Khan and Mohammad Ahmed Khan alias Munna, said to be associated with the banned militant group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, had escaped from the prison on June 13, 2017.

The jail officials were booked in a case for their alleged negligence and the escaped undertrial prisoners under Sections 223 (escape from confinement or custody negligently suffered by public servant), 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) 225 (resistance or obstruction to lawful apprehension of another person), 225-A (omission to apprehend, or sufferance of escape, on part of public servant in cases not otherwise provided for) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the New Town police station. Later, the Counter-Terrorism Department, which is investigating the case, also added Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act in the FIR.

The trial court granted bail to the officers against a surety of Rs100,000 each.

The prosecution department challenged the grant of bail in the SHC arguing that the escape of the two prisoners was a serious matter that could not be taken lightly. The officers are booked in a case registered against them on charges of negligence and ‘facilitating’ terrorists, the department said.

The prosecutor general argued that the ATC’s order of granting bail to the accused was liable to be set aside. He asked the court to cancel the bail granted to the three officers.

On the other hand, former jail officials’ lawyers submitted that their clients were arrested on June 14, 2017, while the law enforcement agencies conducted a raid in the penitentiary on June 17.

They said that a lot of things, including television sets, mobile phones and memory cards, were recovered during the raid, but still no one knew what was seized from whom.

The counsel said the former jail officials were illegally booked in three different FIRs though the investigation officer had removed the names of their clients in the final charge sheet.

They asked the court to dismiss the government’s appeal against the grant of bail to the two former jail officials.

Corruption reference

The Sindh High Court on Thursday was informed that a corruption reference against former Sindh chief secretary Siddique Memon and others had been filed for illegally allotting six acres in Karachi in 1992, when he was the land utilisation secretary.

A two-judge bench was hearing the plea of the former grade-21 bureaucrat against the inquiry initiated by the National Accountability Bureau.

The NAB investigating officer told the judges that a corruption reference had been filed as Mr Memon had asked the court to restrain NAB from conducting an inquiry against him.

The former chief secretary had on Aug 26, 2015 obtained anticipatory bail after NAB served on him a notice for investigation against him for allegedly illegally allotting the land.

NAB submitted in the court that the top bureaucrat of the province was not entitled to bail.

Apprehension of arrest by NAB had taken Mr Memon to the SHC that first approved his interim pre-arrest bail and later extended it, exempting him from appearing in court during the hearings.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2018

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