Illegal Detention: Four rescued from police station basement

The four men had been kept in the basement of the station, but their arrests had not been recorded.

LAHORE:

An additional district and sessions judge on Monday released two men and two boys who had been held in chains in the basement of Kot Lakhpat police station without any record of their arrest.

Petitioner Zohra Bibi had asked Additional District and Sessions Judge Arif Hameed Shaikh to depute a bailiff to recover her relatives Akbar Ali, 12, Amir Ali, 8, Khalid and Iftikhar.

She said they had been picked up by the police on November 18, shortly after which she received a demand for Rs125,000 for their release. A bailiff sent by the judge found the four had been kept in handcuffs in the basement of the police station, but their arrests had not been recorded, nor had they been nominated as accused in any case.

The judge found that the police had detained them illegally and ordered their release. He directed the CCPO to take disciplinary action against the SHO and other officials responsible.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2011.