KARACHI, Feb 21: A policeman, who was a prosecution witness in an illicit weapon case, was handcuffed on Tuesday and sent to prison for defying court orders on the directives of a judicial magistrate.

The policeman, Head Constable Ausaf Baig, was one of the prosecution witnesses in the case against accused Tariq Azeem, who was apprehended in September 2011 within the remit of the Zaman Town police station and booked for possessing an illicit weapon under Section 13-D of the Pakistan Arms Ordinance, 1965.

HC Baig had not been appearing in court despite many summons and reminders for the past couple of months.

The court had also issued a show-cause notice under Sections 174 (non-attendance in obedience to an order from public servant) and 175 (omission to produce document to public servant by person legally bound to produce it) of the Pakistan Penal Code for his unexplained and extensive absence from court and non-production of some documents. But he did not submit a reply.

He appeared on Tuesday before Judicial Magistrate (east) Aleem Ahmed, who, after recording his testimony, ordered the police to handcuff the witness since he failed to give any satisfactory reply for consistently overlooking the court orders. Later, he was sent to jail on judicial remand.

Meanwhile, a sessions court on Tuesday sentenced a robber to four years in prison.

The court found Tanveer guilty of robbing Ghayas Adeel in 2008 within the remit of the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (east) Chaudhry Waseem Iqbal also imposed a fine of Rs10,000 and in case of non-payment the accused would have to undergo an additional six-month imprisonment.