‘Illegal’ detention: Court reserves order on contempt plea against Saddar SHO

KARACHI:

A district and sessions court reserved on Wednesday the order on a contempt application seeking action against the Saddar SHO in a case pertaining to ‘unlawful’ detention.

On Monday, the court had issued a notice to the SHO for not complying with court orders to record the statement of the applicant and subsequently lodge a case against the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) officials in a habeas corpus case.

Muhammad Ali Channa had filed a habeas corpus application under section 491 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the district and sessions court South, stating that the police picked up his son in-law, Naeem Butt, from the airport when he had arrived in Karachi from Malaysia on April 25 and kept them in illegal custody.

A head bailiff, Mudassar Hussain, had raided the SIU office on May 2 and found Butt detained without any charges. The SIU officials refused, however, to release him and claimed that he had been booked by the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police station in a bank robbery case. They accused him of looting money from a National Savings branch in Bahadurabad.

On Wednesday, the SHO appeared before the court and claimed that the complainant never came to register the case against the SIU officials. While rebutting his claim, Channa told the court that he went to register the case but the SHO and the duty officer dillydallied for hours. Channa then sent his statement to the SHO through a courier service and submitted the receipt before the court to support his claim.

The SHO responded that he has not received any mail so far but he was ready to lodge the case now. The hearing was adjourned for May 9. The SIU officials - Irfan Ahmed, Imran Shah and Ghous Alam - have been suspended on the directions of the Sindh IG.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2014.