The superintendant of the Central Prison Karachi was warned on Monday to either produce a detenue/accused before the Sindh High Court (SHC) on August 4 or the court would order the registration of an FIR against prison officials.
The warning came from a bench comprising senior most judge Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Tasnim who were hearing a constitutional petition filed by Nazia bibi, the wife of an ex-union council nazim Abdul Rauf Baloch.
The petitioner maintains that her husband was booked in a number of cases but was bailed out. He was shown to be released but went missing from the central prison. On Monday, SSP Niaz Khosa, who was specially asked by the bench to inquire into the matter, submitted a report stating that the missing man was not in the custody of the Sindh police. He said that now he has sought permission from the Inspector General of Police Sindh to make inquiries from the intelligence agencies. But he needed more time to do this.
The bench expressed its extreme displeasure, however, and held out a stern warning for the jail superintendent who has to ensure that the missing man is produced before the court on August 4. Produce him or you all will be facing an FIR, the court observed. Hearing another petition about illegal detention of a sepoy of Pakistan Rangers, the same bench asked the respondents, including the DG Rangers, to complete and decide the departmental proceedings against the man in a week. The bench, which was hearing a constitutional petition filed by Malik Shabbir Ahmed, the father of the alleged detenue, also ordered the respondents to allow a meeting with the family.
The bench also noted with concern that while comments were filed by the DG ISI and DG Pakistan Rangers personal affidavits as ordered by the bench had yet to be filed.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2011.
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