PESHAWAR, Feb 1: A convicted person has been detained at Nowshera judicial lock-up for the last five years without commencement of his prison term.

Sher Ali was convicted in absentia in 1994 with the direction by a trial court that his prison term should commence with his arrest.

However, he was arrested in 1999 and instead of starting his prison term the police and prison authorities have been regularly producing him before the court of concerned judicial magistrate for extending his judicial remand under the Criminal Procedure Code after every 14-day period.

He had been produced before the magistrates for about 120 times, but the successive magistrates never tried to ascertain his legal status and continued extending his judicial custody without going into the details of his case.

Normally, an accused prisoner is produced before a magistrate on judicial warrant for extending judicial remand during pre- trial stage. Sher Ali has been convicted of triple murder.

The incident occurred at Khesghi Payan (Nowshera) on April 29, 1987. One of the injured persons, Bukht Riaz, stated that he was sitting in a shop along with his friends Ismail, Fayyaz, Fazal and Purdil, when a motor car appeared and some unidentified persons opened fire on them.

The complainant added that Purdil and Fazal died on the spot, whereas he and other two friends received injuries. The complainant also died later in the hospital. Before his death he named Sher Ali, his two brothers - Mohammad Ishaq and Mohammad Fayyaz - and some other persons for the offence.

Sher Ali and Fayyaz were arrested in 1990, whereas Mohammad Ishaq was arrested in 1988. Few years later they were granted bail by the high court. During the trial Mohammad Ishaq disappeared and was declared a proclaimed offender. The other were tried by the Nowshera district and sessions judge. After completion of the trial the court pronounced the verdict on July 3, 1994. However, before the judgement was pronounced Sher Ali slipped away.

The court sentenced both the accused to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs15,000 for each of the three deceased. As Sher Ali had disappeared, therefore the court wrote a judicial note with the judgement, directing that his sentence should commence as and when he would be arrested. His perpetual arrest warrants were issued.

In the meantime, the appeal of Mohammad Fayyaz was dismissed by the high court. While his appeal was pending before the Supreme Court. He completed his prison term and was released on June 12, 2001.

Sher Ali was arrested on Feb 16, 1999, and since then he has been detained at the Nowshera judicial lock-up instead of sending him to prison for undergoing his term.

His absconding brother Mohammad Ishaq was arrested on Feb 25, 2002. His trial was conducted by the Nowshera district and sessions judge and was acquitted on Oct 21, 2003.

Sher Ali has neither been treated as under-trial nor as a convicted prisoner by the prison authorities, which is injustice to him, said an office-bearer of the Voice of Prisoners, an organization working for helpless prisoners.

He added that if his prison term had commenced with his arrest he would have completed the sentence as during the last five years on various occasions remissions were granted by the quarters concerned including the president, governor, and others.

"The magistrates are also responsible for his plight as they extended his judicial remand in a mechanical manner without ascertaining the real situation," the office-bearer said.