Unusual means: Suspect brought to ATC in rickshaw

KARACHI:

Two suspects allegedly affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were brought to an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday by the police in a rickshaw.

Claiming the department's other vehicles were unavailable, the police brought the suspects, Tayyab and Tassaduq, to court in a rickshaw. According to the prosecution, the two men were arrested on Friday after an encounter with law enforcers in Pirabad.

Investigation officer Rana Abdul Jabbar said that Tassaduq was involved in two murder cases while the other had his hand in an extortion case. They were presented before the ATC-II link judge who, after listening to the arguments, remanded the suspects to police custody for a week.

Several television channels focused on the unusual means of transporting suspected militants from the police station at one end of the city all the way to the courts. It was apparently due to the media attention that the suspects were not taken back in the same manner.

Jabbar justified, however, his decision by saying that the rickshaw was hired because some police vans were not available at the station and others were out of order.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2015.