MULTAN, Aug 21: A policeman must have felt strange when he was asked by the court to pay Rs10,000 to a man whom he had illegally detained in the lock-up, as usually money flows in the opposite direction.

Justice Muhammad Jahangir Arshad of the Lahore High Court’s Multan Bench on Monday imposed Rs10,000 fine on a sub-inspector of Sahiwal’s Ghaziabad police station for illegally putting a man in the lock-up. The fine would be paid to the detenue by the SI, the court said.

Petitioner Allah Rakha Masih, a resident of Louis Colony, Multan, submitted that the police picked up his brother Khawar Masih in a raid on his house on Aug 5, and detained him without any charge.

The court deputed a bailiff who raided the police station and recovered Khawar. The moharrir informed the bailiff that the detenue was arrested by SI Sadiq Hussain in a girl’s kidnapping case.

The SI admitted before Justice Muhammad Jahangir Arshad that Khawar was not among the nominated accused in the case, and was arrested on Aug 18 on a statement by the complainant in the kidnap case. The SI further submitted that Khawar’s brother Babar and father khursheed were nominated accused. He, however, failed to explain why the arrest was not mentioned in the Roznamcha (daily diary) of the police station.

The court directed the policeman to pay the fine within three days to the detenue, while declaring the detention as illegal. The detenue could also move the court if the policeman failed to pay the fine and could also proceed against him within six months under the Police Order, the court said.—APP