KARACHI, Aug 17: An overwhelming number of 276 people, including 33 women, were lodged in seven different police stations of Clifton Town on Monday night following the much-publicized raid on Prince Cinema which was led by the Sindh home minister.
Sources told Dawn that some persons were released late Monday night when phone calls were made by some influential personalities. Some of the suspects got bail on Tuesday when they deposited a surety amount of Rs 10,000 each with the bailiff.
However, a significant number of suspects who could not arrange the surety amount are still in the lockup. Friends and relatives thronged various police stations late Monday night where suspects were being kept.
Though handled by male policemen, the 33 women were lodged in the women police station, now shifted to the Civil Lines. SHO of Saddar Inspector Hameed Ahmed Khan has been placed under arrest for his alleged involvement in the Prince Cinema episode.
The SHO was arrested by the TPO Clifton and a further probe is under way against him. The way police handled the Monday's raid, with policemen dragging women with hair and duppattas, has drawn a sharp criticism.
The heavy contingent of police and rangers knowing that they would raid a "brothel being run in the cinema" were not accompanied by women police, said an NGO official. Criticizing the behaviour meted out to women by the police during the Monday's raid, chairman of the Action Committee for Civic Problems, Baseer Naveed, said that irrespective of what women are being accused of, man handling them cannot be justified.
There are a number of notorious gambling dens in the city, but the police are reluctant to take action against them. Recently, the Sindh Governor, Dr Ishratul Ibad, had ordered the town police officers to close vice dens in their respective jurisdictions.
SHOs were to be held responsible for the vice dens found operating in their areas. However, the illegal trade was going on in a cinema-house located on M A Jinnah Road. "The police, the censor board and the cantonment board under whose jurisdiction the cinema falls should also be made accountable to illegal activities being held on the premises", remarked a senior police officer.
He was of the opinion that women were being exploited as they belonged to the lowest social strata.
BAIL GRANTED: Judicial Magistrate South Muqtadir Ali Khan on Tuesday admitted 276 men, women to bail against a solvent surety of Rs10,000 each in a case registered against them on charge of involvement in obscene activities at a public place, adds APP.