MULTAN, June 11: District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Ashraf Bhatti on Tuesday imposed Rs4,000 fine on Saddar police SHO for illegally detaining a man in the lock-up for over one and a half month.

Reports said SHO Mehar Ishaq Sial was directed either to pay a fine of Rs4,000 or to face one-month imprisonment. The SHO paid the fine the same day.

Imam Bakhsh of Binda Salana had filed a habeas corpus petition, complaining the police had detained his brother Muhammad Sultan for a month and a half without any justification.

Bailiff conducted the raid on June 10 and recovered the detenu from the police station. He found no record of his arrest in the daily register.

The SHO told the court he had detained the man on June 10, the day the bailiff conducted the raid. The detenu was wanted by police in a case, he added.—APP