KARACHI, Feb 2: The former inspector-general of Sindh Police, Rana Maqbool Ahmed Khan, paid Rs50,000 to the Sindh High Court nazir on Friday as fine for contempt of court.

Along with former Assistant IG (Legal), Sindh, S. Qamar Raza, he was tried for contempt by the SHC for arresting Abu Bakr Zardari, PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari’s counsel, on April 6, 1999, in violation of the high court’s order. The court had ordered on November 3, 1998, that the lawyer, who was facing harassment, should not be arrested without the permission of the home department, which shall assign reasons for such arrest under intimation to the SHC registrar. The police detained him for six days in violation of the court order on the then IGP’s direction and his wife moved a contempt petition through Advocate Masood Ghani.

Rana Maqbool, who is now posted as officer on special duty in the Punjab government, first pleaded ignorance of the court order but later apologised. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Faisal Arab, however, observed that ‘in matters relating to liberty of a citizen, we are inclined to take a serious view despite the apology tendered by the contemner’ belatedly. He was fined Rs50,000 and paid the fine as ordered later on Friday.

Qamar Raza, who has retired since, was found not guilty but was awarded costs amounting to Rs 10,000 for not furnishing all the relevant information in his comments on the petition. The bench said the courts “have been lenient in allowing public officials to file comments rather than affidavits but that does not mean that irresponsible statements of facts should be made by them.” Bailable warrants were issued to enforce the presence of the respondents.

The lawyer was earlier paid Rs30,000 as compensation by the Sindh home department. The court had asked the department to pay Rs5,000 for every day of detention in violation of its order.