Two minors released on bail in motorcycle 'theft' case

Suspects' families claim they were arrested for not paying bribe to the police

KARACHI: A judicial magistrate released on bail on Saturday two minors booked in an alleged case of motorcycle theft, ordering their families to submit personal surety bonds of Rs5,000 each.

The children, Ajlan and Mohsin, both around 12-years-old, were taken into custody on Friday after they were allegedly found riding a stolen motorcycle within the limits of the Ferozabad police station. The District East magistrate, performing special duty on holiday, directed the investigating officer to release the children from the police station, as their families submitted the sureties with the court.



The case was reported with some controversy as the families claimed that the children were arrested for not paying bribe to the police during snap-checking. On the other hand, the police maintained that it was a cooked up story.

"The police had received a complaint that a motorcycle was stolen," said Gulshan division SP Dr Muhammad Rizwan. "On scrutiny, the police found out that it was the same motorcycle that was reported to have been stolen," he said.

The police then took the children into custody, registered a case against them and detained them at the Ferozabad police station. The children's families staged a protest against the incident and demanded action against the police officials for registering a fake case, as well as the immediate release of the minors.



In an interesting turn of the events, the owner of the motorcycle, Nazeer Awan, denied that his motorcycle had been stolen and instead claimed that the children detained were his nephews. "The police stopped the children during snap-checking and arrested them for not paying them 'Eidi'," claimed Awan. "My motorcycle was stolen and recovered a long time ago," he added.

Awan said he has produced the relevant documents showing that his stolen motorcycle was recovered way back in 2014. "Despite the fact that I produced the documents and recovery letter of my motorcycle, the SHO booked my nephews on charges of theft," Awan said. "Even though I showed each and every document, the SHO continued asking for 'Eidi' and booked the children in a fake case when we refused to bribe him," he claimed.