LAHORE, June 19: The Lahore High Court on Monday ordered registration of a criminal case against a brick kiln owner and others for their involvement in the obnoxious business of selling kidneys of labourers.

The court also directed the Manga Mandi police to submit a report about the involvement of doctors and the paramedical staff of a local hospital in this business. It issued the direction when the Manga SHO submitted that petitioner Mohammad Khan had approached him with such a complaint.

The petitioner submitted that kiln owner Malik Imran had taken him and his two brothers, Shahzad and Laloo, to a hospital where doctors extracted kidneys of his brothers. When he saw that it was now his turn, he ran away.

He stated in a habeas corpus petition that the kiln owner had illegally detained seven members of his family, including Shahzad and Laloo, for one-and-a-half year during which they were not being paid wages.

The court set the detained workers at liberty with a direction to the Manga SHO that they should be given protection against a possible intimidation and settled at a place of their choice.

The court had required the SP to appear in the habeas corpus petition, but he sent the SHO.