IO arrested in courtroom for illegally detaining man

Judge issues directives to register case against police officials

RAWALPINDI:

Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench judge Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz on Tuesday ordered to arrest Investigation Officer, Sub-Inspector, Ameer Hussain during the hearing of a case involving the illegal detention of a man.

 The judge also ordered to file a case against the Airport Police Station House Officer and the investigating officer for kidnapping and keeping the young man in illegal detention for several days after arresting him from Lala Musa without warrants.

During the hearing, the court ordered to produce the young man before the court in half an hour and reprimanded the SP investigation and the SP Pothohar for their dereliction in keeping an eye on their subordinates.

The court said, "no one would be allowed to violate the constitution or the law." The court that the SHO was ineligible to run the police station and ordered his immediate dismissal.

The court ordered the release of the arrested man, identified as Imran.

The court also summoned AIG Investigation Lahore, CPO Rawalpindi, SP Investigation, and SP Potohar on January 5 after issuing notices to them.

 The court was told that the young man's father died after learning about the kidnapping and abuse of his son in police custody.

The petitioner’s brother Osama Zubair said that without a warrant, the Airport police officers searched his Lala Musa home and arrested his brother Imran and brought him to Rawalpindi.

He said that they kept him in the torture cell instead of the police station and demanded a heavy amount in bribes.

He said that the police did not inform the court about the arrest.

He said that when the police declined to detain the man, they were shown CCTV footage and cell phone recordings of the arrest.

The video was also played in the courtroom.

 Investigating Officer Sub-Inspector Aamir Hussain after seeing the video, admitted to the arrest. The court ordered that the young man be brought to the court within 30 minutes. The young man was brought to the court.

After the man was brought to the courtroom handcuffed, the court ordered to handcuff the investigating officer.

The court said it was a joke that the officer lied to the court.

The court will not allow anyone to violate the constitution, the judge said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2023.