PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has granted bail to a Christian prisoner, who claimed that he has been detained for around eight years without trial as the records of his alleged crime and detention had gone missing in Khyber tribal district.

A bench consisting of Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Syed Arshad Ali directed prisoner Shakeel Masih to submit two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each and adjourned the hearing into his main petition, which requested the court to declare his confinement illegal, unconstitutional and against his basic rights.

The schedule of next hearing will be fixed later.

Saifullah Muhib Kakakhel, lawyer for the petitioner, contended that his client was arrested on Oct 8, 2013, apparently on the charge of his involvement in the murder of an army official in Khyber district (then Khyber Agency) of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

He contended that his trial wasn’t concluded earlier and the relevant file had also gone missing.

Detainee claims kept behind bars without trial

The lawyer said the Khyber district and sessions judge continued to write the letter to the inspector general of Frontier Corps, district public prosecutor and relevant assistant political agent in ex-Fata for the production of the case file but it hadn’t been found.

He contended that it was revealed later that a judgment was passed by a court in ex-Fata, but it was neither signed by the court’s presiding officer nor was it available with the trial court.

An additional advocate general said the petitioner had the remedy available of filing an application with the trial court for his release on bail.

However, the bench observed that when the case file or records were not available with the trial court, how it would decide the petitioner’s plea.

In the main petition, the prisoner claimed that without assigning any reason, the trial court had been extending his judicial custody after every 14 days for keeping him imprisoned.

He requested the court to declare the orders of the trial court by granting judicial custody without recording any reason against the basic principles of criminal justice.

The respondents in the petition are the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through advocate general, KP inspector general of prisons, interior secretary, Khyber district public prosecutor and district and sessions judge, and Peshawar Central Prison’s superintendent.

Lawyer Kakakhel, who is known for public interest litigation, said the petitioner was arrested around eight years ago but no document to that effect was available, including the FIR.

He contended that there was no FIR or any incriminating evidence against him and that he was behind bars without any lawful justification.

The lawyer said his client hadn’t been provided with any document in line with the Code of Criminal Procedure related to his case.

He wondered when the records were not available with the trial court, then how it was possible for it to grant his judicial custody to keep him behind bars for an indefinite period.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2021