PESHAWAR, Feb 10: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday ordered the release of 10 members of a family, including an infant, who were in prison under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) for the past nine months.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Shehzad Akber Khan directed the deputy advocate-general to get all the detainees released on furnishing of two sureties of Rs20,000 each.

The court, issuing the order in a writ petition challenging the imprisonment, observed that innocent women and children could not be detained for the wrongdoings of their male relatives.

The deputy advocate-general, Akhter Naveed, informed the court that the detainees were relatives of a notorious outlaw, Arsal Khan, who had kidnapped several persons in Lakki Marwat. He said they were detained so as to pressurise the outlaw to surrender.

Arsal's family members were arrested on May 2, 2004, and sentenced to three years imprisonment each under Section 40 of the FCR. They have since been serving their term in the D.I. Khan central prison.

The detainees are: Gul Sahiba, 55; her daughter-in-law Dur Jana, 30; daughters Gul Khaira, 14; and Gul Zarma Jana, 10; sons Eid Badshah, 12; Ghulam Hussain, 9; Shah Hussain, 7; and Muhammad Hussain, 4; grand-daughters Khana Dura, three-and-a-half years old; and Nama Jan, one-and-a-half years old.

Advocate Abdur Rahseed Khan, appearing for the petitioners, argued that the detainees were not relatives of Arsal Khan. He said they only came from the Bittani tribe to which the said outlaw belonged.

The lawyer said that they were arrested by the district coordination officer in a settled area of the province but were handed over to the assistant political agent of Lakki, one of the frontier regions.

Another 24 women and children belonging to Arsal Khan' family have been imprisoned under Section 40 of the FCR in the Haripur central prison.