After a week in illegal custody, seventh grader goes home

Judge orders CPO to look into the case.

RAWALPINDI:

A seventh grader recovered by a court bailiff from alleged illegal police custody was allowed to go home with his father after being presented in court on Tuesday.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Sarfaraz Akhtar directed the police to let the boy go after he was recovered on Monday evening. He had been in police custody for six days.

The court did not agree with the police’s claim that they arrested the boy on Monday for his alleged role in a carjacking case registered five months ago.

The court also directed the city police officer (CPO) to look into the matter and take disciplinary action against Sub Inspector Mehr Iqbal if he is found guilty of illegally detaining the boy.

Earlier, Bailiff Malik Farooq found the boy handcuffed and tied to a charpoy in a second-story room at the New Town Police Station.

Muhammad Nawaz, the child’s father, told The Express Tribune that the SI picked up his son when he was walking back from a relative’s house in Mohalla Raja Sultan near Holy Family Hospital.

“I went to the police station time and again asking for the release of my son, but SI Iqbal said he would register an FIR against the boy and detained him for days,” said Anwar. He accused the police of torturing his son to force a confession in the carjacking case.

Anwar, who had being suffering from angina, said, “His son was too scared to inform the court that he was kept in illegal custody.” He only spoke on the consoling remarks of the judge, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2012.