Illegal detention: Judge dismisses plea against police, but smells mischief

Tells police to keep arrest record at both the post and the police station.

FAISALABAD:

A petition for recovery of two men allegedly detained illegally at Chananke police post was disposed of on Friday after a bailiff reported that their arrests were registered at Sandal Bar police station.

Additional Sessions Judge Qaisar Nazir Butt said that the petitioner, Barkat Ali, should seek appropriate legal remedies in the matter.

He was earlier told by Bailiff Tahir Munir that there was no record of the arrests of Shakeel Ahmad and Muneer Ahmad, sons of the petitioner, at the police post in Chak 62-JB where they were found detained during his visit on April 24. He said the arrests were recorded at Sandal Bar police station. He said the two men had been implicated in an FIR (registered under Sections 337-H2, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code) through a supplementary statement recorded on April 15, 2012.

Barkat Ali’s counsel stated that the case record had been forged to cover up the matter. He said the absence of any record of the arrests at the police post where the men were detained cast doubts on police’s claim that Ahmad brothers were arrested in the FIR registered on April 15. “It appears the police entered their names in the FIR on learning about the bailiff’s raid,” he said.

In his petition, Ali had contended that a Sandal Bar police team had taken his sons away without an arrest warrant in a raid at his house on April 22. He said the team had come looking for his third son, Adeel Ahmad, who was accused in a six-week-old case (registered under Section 324 of the PPC). He said Adeel Ahmad was not home when the police raided.

Ali alleged that his family members were beaten up and abused by the police on protesting against the arrest of his sons.

Police told to record arrests both at posts, stations

Meanwhile, Additional Session Judge Qaisar Nazir Butt directed the city police officer to ensure that record of arrests was kept both at the posts and the stations. In future, he said, any detention without recording the arrest at both the post and the station would be considered illegal. He said proceedings would be initiated against the police men involved under Section 491 of the CrPC in such cases.

The judge observed that similar circumstances had come to the court’s notice in several illegal detention pleas.

He said it appeared that the police had been taking advantage of the time taken by bailiffs to go from the post to the station to enter names of people (held illegally) in some cases registered at the stations.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2012.