PESHAWAR, Aug 17: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday summoned an SHO and assistant political agent for allegedly keeping three people in illegal detention for about four months.

A bench of the court, comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan and Justice Dost Mohammad Khan, directed deputy advocate-general Mohammad Ayaz Khan to ensure the Pishtakhara police station SHO and the assistant political agent, Bara (Khyber Agency), appeared in the court on next hearing.

It also directed the superintendent of the Peshawar Central Prison to produce the record of the three detainees presently kept in the central prison.

The bench adjourned the hearing of a habeas corpus petition challenging the detention of Mohammad Shafiq, Mohammad Khan and Mohammad Amin.

The petition was filed by Abdul Rauf, a cousin of detainee Shafiq.

The petitioner alleged that the three people had been arrested on April 20 by the Pishtakhara police near the Bara Qadeem checkpost while they were travelling in a vehicle.

He said he had filed an application against their illegal detention in the court of the additional district and sessions judge. He said the court had deputed two bailiffs who had recovered the detainees from a hujra on May 30, but police officials present there had refused to release them. He added that the additional sessions judge also dismissed their application.

He said that later, the detainees were handed over to the assistant political agent who, after keeping them in illegal detention for some time, shifted them to the prison.

The bench summoned the two bailiffs, Tariq and Arshad, who told the court that they had seen the detainees in the hujra, but four police officers present there had claimed that the detentions had been made on the orders of high-ups.

The petitioner’s counsel said his client had made a video film of the detainees while they were in illegal custody of police. He contended that the detainees had been shifted to Khyber Agency illegally.