KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday observed that incidents of police officials abducting innocent citizens to extort money were rising unchecked in society.

The two-judge bench, headed by Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput, also noted that short-term kidnappings were not only unlawful but it also undermined the very essence of the rule of law.

The bench further said that the law enforcing agencies were duty-bound to maintain law and order, and safeguard the life, liberty and property of citizens.

“If those responsible for enforcing the law are themselves involved in such serious offences, it naturally reduces public trust in these institutions. If this trend continues, it could seriously harm civil rights and the credibility of law enforcement agencies,” it added.

The bench made these observations while turning down the bail applications of three officials of the excise police.

Turns down bail pleas of three excise police officials in kidnap case

Applicants Javed Khan, Nawab Khan and Amjad Hussain have been facing trial before an anti-terrorism court for allegedly kidnapping Majid Ali in the Defence Housing Authority in April last year, confining him to the excise police station and demanding ransom for his release.

The detained officials approached the SHC after the trial court had dismissed their post-arrest bail pleas.

After hearing the arguments, the bench dismissed the bail applications and observed that apparently, prosecution had sufficient evidence against the applicants to connect them with the offences.

It also noted that as per record, the names of applicants were not mentioned in the FIR, but they had been named in the charge sheet and had been assigned their specific roles in committing short-term kidnapping of the complainant, detaining him at their police stations, demanding ransom and forcibly transferring money from the bank account of the captive.

The bench in its order also said: “It may be observed that short-term kidnapping of innocent citizens by police officials for the purpose of extorting money is now-a-days increasing in the society in an uncontrolled way.”

Chinese nationals’ security

The same bench on Thursday directed the provincial and police authorities to act as per the standard operating procedures (SOPs) about providing security to Chinese nationals.

A petition was filed by two people and submitted that Chinese nationals were their tenants and police personnel, providing security to them, were breaching the privacy of the petitioners.

Additional advocate general Sagheer Ahmed Abbasi and ASP Manisha Ropeta filed some documents including SOPs for foreigners working on non-CPEC projects.

The police officer also informed the SHC that the petitioners were approached for providing security to their Chinese tenants as per SOPs, but they were reluctant to cooperate with the police.

The counsel for petitioner argued that the petitioners cannot give inside house access to police as it will breach their privacy.

Thereafter, the bench directed the respondents to act as per SOPs in the case of petitioners and their Chinese tenants and if they do not need protection as per SOPs, they may submit such undertaking to police that they would arrange requisite security to themselves and such undertaking be sent to embassy and consulates of such foreign citizens.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2025