HYDERABAD, June 17: Anti-Terrorism Court judge Syed Ali Ashraf Shah here on Friday rejected both applications of People’s Party Parliamentarians MPA Zahid Bhurgari, seeking bail in a criminal case and production in the Sindh Assembly’s ongoing budget session.

Defence counsel Allah Bachayo Soomro had filed two separate applications in the court which were opposed by special public prosecutor Atta Mohammad Memon.

The defence counsel prayed the court to allow the MPA to attend the budget session of the Sindh Assembly.

The special public prosecutor opposed the plea on the ground that no communication had been received from the PA speaker, requiring attendance of the MPA in the session. He said the MPA was under custody in a criminal case which was being investigated.

In the bail application, the defence counsel contended that MPA had been picked up by the Latifabad A-section police without arrest warrants on June 12 when he had come out of a labour convention in unit-7 of Latifabad.

However, he added, the Latifabad police handed him over to the Amri police, Jamshoro district, who showed him arrested on June 13 at 4am on the Ranikot link road.

He maintained that the MPA had been arrested in a case in which the complainant had not identified any of the accused. He said no eyewitnesses had been cited in the matter and even features of the accused had not been mentioned in the FIR.

FIR: The fifth additional district judge here on Friday directed the SHO of the Matiari police station to register an FIR against Khyberani SHO Jan Mohammad Noonari and three police constables after considering a statement of an applicant.

Mehrab Machhi had filed a criminal miscellaneous application in the court, stating that he and his brother, Mir Mohammad, were outside their houses in the Muqeem Shah village near Khyber on May 23 when some people arrived there in a car and tried to take away his brother. He said on their hue and cry, villagers intervened in the matter and rescued Mir Mohammad from the people, who were later identified as SHO Jan Mohammad Noonari and police constables Shafiq Rajput, Imdad Machi and Anwar Korejo.

He alleged that the same day at 2pm, three police mobiles surrounded the village, forcibly entered houses and maltreated villagers without any reason. He said the police party consisted of 15 members of the Khyberani police station. He said police, led by SHO, also trespassed into his house, maltreated women and took away gold ornaments, Rs130,000 in cash, 22 goats and two cows. He accused the SHO of using abusive language against his family members and issuing threats of dire consequences. He alleged that police then severely beat up him, Ali Sher, Sharif, Amir Bux and Jan Mohammad and bundled them into a police mobile.

The applicant’s counsel termed the act of the policemen unlawful because no case was pending against the applicant or his family.

He prayed the court to direct the Matiari SHO to register an FIR against the respondent policemen and direct them to release the detainees.