LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Friday discharged over 200 teachers, including three women, arrested by the Islampura police for staging a sit-in outside the Civil Secretariat, Lower Mall.

The police produced some teachers before the magistrate and sought a 10-day physical remand of all others in custody. However, the lawyers for the arrested teachers opposed the remand and requested the magistrate to discharge them.

The FIR was registered under sections 324, 382, 186, 353, 148, 149, 290 and 291 of Pakistan Penal Code.

In his order, Magistrate Imran Abid said a careful perusal of the FIR showed that it had been alleged that some teachers were holding a protest and blocking the road. He said the record produced before the court showed no specific role attributed to anybody in the FIR. Furthermore, he added, no documentary proof had been annexed to the police file to strengthen the case of the prosecution.

Union says police violated the order, keeping teachers in custody

The magistrate noted that the story of the FIR showed that no accused person had been assigned any specific role. He said no one had been injured during the occurrence, nor was there any medical report available on record to make the case of Section 324 (attempted murder).

The magistrate observed that in the recovery memo, police mentioned that four carpets and one tent were recovered from the accused persons but as per the record there was controversy on this point as the accused persons had already stated that they were sitting on carpets under the tent to agitate for a peaceful protest.

“No weapon of offences has been recovered from the accused persons,” he added.

The magistrate observed that no incriminating material was available on the file to grant physical remand of the teachers or send them on judicial remand. He said the remand could not be granted in a mechanical manner.

“So in view of the above circumstances, the accused persons are hereby discharged. They be released forthwith if not wanted in some other case,” the magistrate said in his order.

However, he observed that according to settled law a discharge order does not amount to acquittal or cancellation of FIR and despite a discharge order the case against the accused remains alive, the investigation continues and even the IO can rearrest a discharged accused as a result of further investigation and challan him before a court of law.

A spokesperson for Punjab Teachers Union told Dawn the police did not obey the magistrate’s order in its letter and spirit as only women teachers, who were three in number, had been released. He said there were reports that the male teachers had been detained under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) only to frustrate their release as ordered by the magistrate.

The union’s secretary general Rana Liaqat announced to continue the boycott of educational and dengue duties until release of all arrested teachers.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2023