LAHORE, Oct 2: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the Punjab chief secretary to submit comments on a writ petition against the denial of fundamental human rights to under-trial prisoners.

Petitioner’s counsel M.D. Tahir submitted that under-trial prisoners were neither birds nor animals, but as many as 80 of them were stuffed in the prisoners van meant for 30 after being taken out from jails for production in courts. They were lodged in the “bakhshi khanas” on reaching the courts, but had to remain in the vans at places like Gujrat and Kharian where prisoner’s lock-ups had not been built in the court compounds.

He submitted that he was an official visitor to the jails and had been informed by the under-trial prisoners that they had to remain stuffed in the vans for eight to 10 hours continuously as the police officials usually took their remand without taking them out of these vans. Their relatives had to bribe the policemen to meet them outside the courts or to allow them to answer the call of the nature.

He prayed the court to direct the government to respect the human rights of prisoners and build lock-ups with toilets and drinking water facilities in the compounds of all the courts. The prisoners should be allowed to use toilets in the court compounds where lockups did not exist.

AMENDED PETITION: Justice Saeed Akhtar of the Lahore High Court will hear the amended writ petition against the Legal Framework Order from Thursday.