HARIPUR, Nov 1: The court of additional sessions Judge Haripur on Wednesday rejected the bail application of Maulana Ilyas Qadri who, along with six of his guards, had been arrested on the charges of detaining 112 people, including seven Britons of Pakistani origin, in his private jail.

The counsel for the accused had, on rejection of bail application by the court of Judicial Magistrate Sardar Ashfaq Ali Haider on Oct 14, moved the court of Additional Sessions Judge Hafiz Naseem Akbar Khan praying for Maulana Qadri’s bail.

The court after hearing arguments from the counsel of both sides rejected the plea.

Shabir Ahmed King and Nawaz Swati advocates represented the accused while senior counsel and president district bar Maqbool Hussain, Javed Iqbal Sheikh and Abdul Wajid appeared on behalf of Human Development Organisation, Rural Development Project, the two NGOs working for the protection of human rights in Haripur.

The Khalabat police during a late night raid at the centre recovered 112 persons including seven British nationals between the night of Oct 3 and 4.

According to an FIR lodged by one Waseem Shahid who was among the detained persons that Maulana Ilyas Qadri and his six guards namely Ghulam Kibriya, Shaukat Rehman, Fakhar Zaman, Farman Khan, Javed and Mazar Ali had been running a private jail in the name of detoxification centre for the last several years where the accused every month received a handsome amount from the parents and relatives of addicts as maintenance fee.

But according to complainant, the “inmates” were made to live under inhuman living conditions.

They were kept under chains all the time, tortured physically and mentally and some of them were sexually molested at the centre, the complainant told police.

A criminal case under sections 342/506 PPC, 337/12 Hadood Ordinance and 511 PPC was registered against the accused.