Under trial prisoner escapes from court

Rajab Ali reportedly climbed an eight-foot-high wall in the ATC compound to escape.

KARACHI: An under trial prisoner managed to escape from a lock-up located inside the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) compound on Monday.

Two policemen, Shahid Hussain and Moin, were meanwhile taken into custody by Mithadar police after the incident. An FIR No. 23/2013 had also been registered against them.

The prison police had brought the prisoner, Rajab Ali, to ATC-III, for the hearing of a kidnapping for ransom case. Airport police had arrested Ali from Malir in November 2012 for his alleged involvement in an incident in 2011.  Officials said that the suspect was produced before an ATC-III judge on Monday and then taken to the lock-up after the hearing. The confinement room essentially had some iron bars installed outside and were covered with thin wire-mesh.

“He climbed up an eight-foot-high wall, and jumped outside into the compound of the Karachi Port Trust, which is located behind the ATC compound,” said a court staffer on the condition of anonymity. “While policemen followed the suspect, [Ali] managed to flee.”

The suspect’s escape set alarm bells ringing over poor security measures in and around the compound. The courts generally deal with suspects who are involved in several high-profile criminal cases. These suspects are kept in the temporary lock-up for hours on any given day.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2013.