PESHAWAR, Jan 21: A local court on Friday granted bail to two persons who allegedly remained in illegal confinement of the local police for over a year.

The court of judicial magistrate, Qudratullah Khan, observed that the applicants, Sher Shah and Shakirullah Khan, deserved to be set free on bail.

The applicants had remained missing for over 13 months and were finally recovered by a bailiff of the district court on Jan 4 when the policemen were shifting them to another detention facility.

When the bailiff recovered them, the police charged them in different untraced cases of kidnapping and theft registered at different police stations.

Advocate Amjid Noor appeared for the applicants and contended that they were falsely implicated in the instant case registered at Hayatabad police station. He stated that the record proved that the applicants had remained in illegal detention for over a year and finally a bailiff went for their rescue.

In early January, one of their relatives, Shera Khan, had filed a habeas corpus petition before the court of district and sessions judge, Ziauddin Khattak, following which the court had deputed a bailiff to raid a police post of their recovery.

The detainees alleged that they had been kept by the police for receiving ransom from their relatives.

The bailiff found out that there was no case registered against them at the concerned Hayatabad police station.

Later on, the police charged them in an untraced case of Pishtakhara police station and subsequently they were charged in another case at Hayatabad police station.

An application filed by the two applicants has also been pending before court of additional district and sessions judge for registration of an FIR against the concerned policemen of Hayatabad police station.

The application was filed under section 22-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) under which the court enjoys power of 'justice of peace' and could order registration of an FIR. The applicants requested the court to order registration of the case under section 365-A of Pakistan Penal Code (kidnapping for ransom) and section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act.

The applicant has also submitted an affidavit of one of their friends, Johar Ali, who was also taken into custody along with them on Dec 3, 2009, near Karkhano Market. He claimed that he was set free after paying Rs10 million to the police.

A writ petition was also filed in the Peshawar High Court after their arrest in 2009, but it was disposed of on Feb 4, 2010, as the concerned officials had denied their arrest.