MULTAN, April 6: A local court on Tuesday sent an injured prisoner to hospital after he alleged he was attacked by some prisoners armed with cutters at the Sahiwal jail at the behest of jail officials.

The court ordered: "The prisoner should be medically examined and treated at the hospital if doctors think he is in serious condition, and later he should be sent to the Multan District Jail and produced on April 8."

Qaswar Abbas vomited blood before entering the court of additional district and sessions judge Falak Sher Farooka, and had his nose and left side of face covered with bandages. He kept lying on a bench inside the courtroom while the judge heard his case.

He alleged his nose was cut at the behest of jail officials who wanted him to withdraw an application he had filed with the Anti-Corruption Establishment against a retired jail officer.

"The superintendent and the deputy superintendent of the New Central Jail, Multan, and the Sahiwal jail superintendent will be responsible in case of my death," he said in his application.

While facing sentence in a rape case, Abbas had gone on hunger strike at the New Central Jail after he was put in 'Kasuri Chakki' for informing the jail officials that some prisoners were carrying cutters.

He then moved the court and the judge restrained Multan jail officials from shifting him to any other jail and putting him in 'Kasuri Chakki'. However, he was shifted to the Sahiwal jail on the pretext of his security and was again put in 'Kasuri Chakki'. Upon this, the court had issued show-cause notices to the jail officials.

Abbas alleged he was drugged by Sahiwal jail officials to avoid his production before the court on the last date of hearing, and on Tuesday he was attacked before his transportation to Multan for hearing of the case. -APP