PESHAWAR, May 8: A local court on Monday ordered the release on bail 24 women arrested by officials of a women crisis centre on charges of vagrancy. The court of judicial magistrate Tilla Mohammad Khan ordered that each of the women should furnish surety bonds of Rs50,000.

The court ordered that till the filing of surety bonds the women should be kept in the crisis centre.

The court observed that the offence allegedly committed by these women was bailable.

The women were arrested from different markets of the provincial capital by the staff of the provincial government-run women crisis centre under the Vagrancy Act, 1958. The raiding team was led by the director of the centre, Ms Tahira Ali, along with officials of the local police.

When the women were produced before the court almost all of them started crying claiming they were not beggars and had gone out of their homes for different chores.

“There is nobody to look after my little children at home. These people arrested me without informing any of my family members and they must be extremely worried about me,” said one of the detained women.

Another woman claimed that she worked as a domestic servant at a residence and was on her way back home when she was arrested.

She said that her family too was not aware about her arrest.