KARACHI, May 12: The Sindh High Court on Thursday issued notices to the home secretary, the provincial and the Hyderabad police chiefs and others in the petition of an MBA student seeking cancellation of a kidnapping case against her and registration of a case against the police officials who allegedly tortured and assaulted her in their custody.

A division bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed also restrained the police from arresting the petitioner who also impleaded the district police officer (DPO) of Benazirabad, SHO of A-Section police station, police official Shahid Ali Shah, and private persons Mohammed Imran, Iqbal and Mohammed Saddiq as respondents.

The petitioner, represented by Advocate Nasir Ahmed, submitted that she was a student of MBA at an institute in Lahore.

She stated that respondent Mohammed Saddiq lodged a false case against her and her family members for the kidnapping of his daughters and wife, who moved to Karachi on their own as the respondent was forcing one of his daughters to marry a man of his choice. She stated that the A-Section police raided her house in Benazirabad and took away her with them on the instance of Saddiq.

The young woman stated that she was mentally and physically tortured and assaulted by the police officials who kept her in their illegal custody for three days.

She stated that the police officials released her only after the matter of her arrest was taken up by the media.

The petitioner woman pointed out that Saddiq's daughter, Shumaila Naureen, was her class fellow and she and her sister and mother had also filed a constitutional petition against Saddiq and the court had already directed the respondents, including police officials, not to harass or arrest her.

She prayed to the court to provide protection to her and her family from the harassment of police and private respondents.

The petitioner also prayed to the court to order the cancellation of the false kidnapping FIRs registered against her and her family members.

She requested the court to order the registration of a case against the police officials and other private respondents who were responsible for torturing and assaulting her in custody.

The court adjourned the hearing till May 26 and ordered that no arrest would be effected by the police in crime no. 85/2011 registered by the A-Section Police Station, Benazirabad, under Sections 396-A (robbery), 365-B (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel for marriage etc) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The investigation officer of the case was also directed to be present in court on the next date of hearing.

Meanwhile, Shumaila Naureen, her sister Sumaira Naureen and their mother, Nazir Begum, filed affidavits in the court, stating that they had never been kidnapped as alleged by respondent Saddiq and the persons named in the FIR were innocent.

Ms Shumaila along with her sister and mother had already filed a constitutional petition against the police officials and Mohammed Saddiq seeking protection from their father and cancellation of the case registered against her friend.

According to Ms Shumaila, her father, a former constable, wanted her to marry a man who she had never seen. She said that her father expelled her, her sister and mother after she refused to marry the man of her father's choice.

She said that she sought help from one of her classmates who along with her father and brother was booked in a false case by her respondent father.

Missing man's case

The same bench directed the federal law officer to file comments of federal law enforcement agencies regarding the efforts made for tracing a missing man.

The bench was seized with the hearing of a petition of Fatima, wife of Mohammed Ramzan, seeking her husband's whereabouts.

The court also directed the investigation officer of the case to appear in court along with the entire record of the investigation so far conducted for tracing the missing man.

The petitioner, mother of nine and resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, submitted in her petition that personnel of law-enforcement agencies raided her house on Feb 11 and took away her husband.

The woman impleaded the interior secretary, the director of the Inter-Services Intelligence, the home secretary, the provincial and the city police chiefs, the area SP and the SHO of the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station as respondents.

On Thursday, her counsel Advocate Syed Abdul Wahab complained that no report had so far been filed regarding the investigation of the FIR lodged for the kidnapping of the petitioner's husband.