PESHAWAR, Feb 2: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday ordered a police officer to record statements of independent witnesses and conduct an investigation into illegal detention of a man for 16 months.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Tallat Qayyum Qureshi set a Feb 7 for next hearing and instructed SHO Arsala Khan of Khwazakhela police station to inform the court about investigation.

The bench reprimanded the SHO when it was informed that the officer had refused to record statements of independent witnesses who had seen intelligence agency personnel picking up the detainee, Muhammad Shafiq, from a busy market in Charbagh area of Swat district.

The bench was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Muhammad Zarin, father of the detainee Muhammad Shafiq, who has alleged that his son was picked up on Sept 28, 2004, by intelligence agency officials with the support of the local police from his garment store in Charbagh.

During the last hearing the court had asked the detainee’s father to record his report in the courtroom and directed the SHO to consider this report as the FIR.

The SHO on Thursday informed the bench that he had recorded statements of different police officers and had been conducting an investigation into the case.

But advocate Bashir Khan Tanghi who appeared on behalf of the petitioner pointed out that eye-witnesses’ statements had not been recorded.

The bench asked the SHO why he had not recorded the statements of eye-witnesses. Observing that the police did not know how to investigate a case, the court directed the police officer to record those statements and conduct an investigation in the light of those statements.