EVEN allowing for the dysfunctionality that plagues our criminal justice system, the circumstances surrounding Friday’s escape of an undertrial prisoner from police custody in Karachi can only be described as farcical.

The individual in question fled from a shopping mall where he had been taken, at his own request no less, by a head constable on the way back from his hearing. It appears that instead of transporting him straight to prison from court, the cop took the accused to the location in a private car and allowed him to roam around freely. The prisoner did not look the gift horse in the mouth, and fled, along with his shopping.

Read more: What exactly is going on with the Sindh police?

Two cops, including the head constable, have been charged with negligence and remanded in police custody, while the Sindh chief minister has ordered the suspension of the courts SSP. What makes this episode all the more shocking is that the man on the run, Zohaib Ali Qureshi, is not charged with some minor crime: he is one of the accused in the high-profile kidnapping cases of Bisma Saleem and Dua Mangi. The women had been abducted in two separate incidents during 2019 and were reportedly released after payment of ransom.

Whether complicit or gullible, the policemen’s actions are indefensible and they should be punished accordingly. Moreover, every effort must be expended to nab the fugitive. This is scarcely the first time that suspects have given law-enforcement officials the slip. Just a few days ago, also in Karachi, five suspects allegedly involved in the murder of Nazim Jokhio fled from court when the judge recalled their interim pre-arrest bail. The policemen present reportedly made no attempt to apprehend them.

Such incidents make a mockery of the law. Not only do they pervert the course of justice; they inhibit witnesses from coming forward lest escapees exact revenge from them; and precious resources have to be diverted to once again hunt down the fugitives. There must be no tolerance for such dereliction of duty.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2022