KARACHI, June 19: The station house officer and a duty officer of the Malir City police station were on Tuesday directed to appear before a sessions court on Wednesday (today) in what appears to be an illegal detention case.
On a directive of a sessions court, a bailiff accompanied by applicant Chaudhry Mohammad Asad and his lawyer carried out a raid on the Malir City police station to recover Chaudhry Ahmed, who according to the applicant had been detained there for the past three days.
However, the police informed the raid commissioner that the detainee was a heart patient and had been shifted to a hospital.
They said that he was booked in a 2011 case registered under Section 489-F (dishonestly issuing a cheque for repayment of loan etc) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Court sources said that the record of the daily diary showed that the man was detained on the night of June 17 while no entry was made about his admission to hospital.
The bailiff told the police that they were legally bound to produce the suspect in court within 24 hours of his arrest. However, the police argued that it was not done owing to the poor health of the suspect, they added.
The bailiff submitted his report to the official in charge of the district and sessions judge (Malir) and also directed the station house officer and the duty officer to appear in court on Wednesday.
A habeas corpus application was filed under Section 491 of the criminal procedure code in which the applicant submitted that his brother had been picked up from his house on June 16.He said that the victim had unlawfully been detained at the Malir City police station. He prayed for the victim’s recovery.
After a preliminary hearing, the official in charge judge of the district and sessions court (Malir), Munawwar Sultana, directed the bailiff to carry out a raid on the information of the applicant and recover the detainee if found in wrongful confinement.
Four witnesses identify ‘robber’ Four witnesses picked out a suspect during separate identification parades before a judicial magistrate in four cases on Tuesday.
Suspect Mohammad Shan was recently arrested in Defence Housing Authority after an encounter in which one of his accomplices was killed and a policeman wounded. During the interrogation he was said to have disclosed his involvement in three robbery cases.
A judicial magistrate (south) conducted the identification parades after completing legal formalities. The suspect was lined up along with dummies and the court separately called four witnesses to identify him.
Police Constable Muddasir, who was wounded in the encounter, identified the suspect and deposed that he along with his accomplices attacked the police in order to avoid arrest.
The complainants of three robbery cases also recognised the suspect in the identification parades and testified that he along with his accomplices had deprived them of cellphones, cash and other valuables at gunpoint.
Meanwhile, the court sent the suspect to jail on judicial remand till June 20 and directed the IOs to submit charge-sheets.
The case of police encounter (FIR 176/2012) was registered under Sections 324 (attempted murder), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Defence police station.
The suspect was also booked in three other cases (FIR Nos.164/2012, 165/2012 & 169/2012) under Section 392 (punishment for robbery) and 34 of the PPC for allegedly robbing Barakullah, Imran Baloch and Haroon Rasheed in May within the remit of the Defence police station.