Detained students walk free on court orders

Four civil judges say future of students cannot be jeopardised

RAWALPINDI:

The four civil judges at the district courts of Rawalpindi on Friday released 361 students arrested over Thursday's violent protests at educational institutions against alleged rape of a female student of a private college in Lahore earlier this week.

The judges said that the courts could not let anyone with the future of those students. They not only turned down the police requests for remand of the students but also dismissed the charges of vandalism, arson, and disturbing peace in the city against them.

A 15-member team of lawyers led by lawyers Malik Faisal, Sabtain Bukhari, Masood Shah Advocates defended the students pro bono. They told the courts that the protests by the students were peaceful but they got angry when police entered the colleges premises tortured them.

The police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells indiscriminately, they said, adding that had the police not baton-charged the students, the protesters would have dispersed peacefully. Instead of resolving this issue by using common sense, the police and the district administration recklessly used force.

The government lawyers said that the students broke the furniture in the colleges, set the furniture on fire, broke the glass doors and windows, besieged properties and set them on fire and vandalised and damaged vehicles. They urged the court to grant remand of those rioters identified in video footage.

The police from four police stations had requested the court to grant physical remand for 61 students, and send 300 students to Adiala Jail on Judicial remand. Rejecting the request, the court told the police as to why they wanted to send 13 and 14 years old children to the jail.

The courts declared that peaceful protest was the basic right of every citizen, but the protest must be peaceful, and stone-pelting was not allowed. After the court orders, the handcuffs on all the students were removed that allowed to go free. After the release, the students raised slogans.

The court ordered the police not to harass these students in these cases anymore.

The judges also reprimanded the students, warning them that they would not indulge in any act of vandalism, rioting, besieging premises and burning future.

On Thursday – the first day of resumption of educational activities in Rawalpindi, which had been suspended for three days as a security measure for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in neighbouring Islamabad, several students rioted against the alleged Lahore incident.

According to eyewitnesses, a large number of students and protestors gathered outside different educational institutions and burnt tyres and furniture, while threw stones at vehicles at several places and disturbed the flow of traffic.

In response the police resorted to baton charge and tear gas shelling to disperse the violent mob. Officials said that there were "non-student elements" involved in the protests, who were among those arrested from the spots.

On Friday, the police arrested 387 protesters and registered eight cases against them at six police stations over charges of damaging properties, including an armoured personnel carrier, and injuring seven policemen. The police also booked more than 2,500 unidentified protesters in these cases.

Following the protests, the Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO), Khalid Hamdani, formed six special teams for investigation, and another 12 special teams for the arrest of those involved in creating the law and order situation.

The 12 teams, led by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Hafiz Kamran Asghar, conducted raids to arrest the rioters, identified with the help of close-circuit camera footages and human intelligence, while the six teams investigated the accused.