PESHAWAR, Dec 4: The Peshawar High Court on Monday ordered the release of two brothers arrested under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation and ruled that no one could be detained under the clause without approval of the FCR commissioner.

A bench of the court, comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal and Justice Fazlur Rehman Khan, observed that the tribal administration should get approval of the commissioner before issuing any order under section 21 of the FCR which deals with collective responsibility.

The bench accepted a writ petition filed by Noor Said — father of detainees Maqsood and Saeedur Rehman — and ordered their release against surety bonds. The court warned the political naib tehsildar of Dara Adamkhel against misusing the law.

The political administration had arrested Maqsood and Saeedur Rehman in the Mathani area on Oct 20 on the plea that their brother Habibur Rehman had been absconding.

Ameenur Rehman Yousafzai appeared for the petitioner and argued before the court that the administration had not fulfilled legal requirements while arresting the two brothers.

An official of the tribal administration told the court that the two had been arrested because their brother was involved in a bank case in Karachi. He said the bank had approached the administration for taking action against them.

The bench observed that the tribal administration was not aware of the law under which the two brothers had been arrested and it had been misusing the FCR.