Successful raid: Magistrate rescues three persons from ‘illegal’ detention

Police failed to produce any FIR to justify their detention.

KARACHI:

A judicial magistrate raided the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) Jamshed Quarters on Friday and rescued three people, including a woman, kept in a room adjacent to the lockup. 

On the directives of District and Sessions Judge (East) Arshad Noor Khan, Judicial Magistrate Erum Jahangir had carried out the raid along with the applicant, Sakina, and her lawyer, and found two men, Abbas Sadiq and Zulfiqar, and the woman, Malika Sadiq Ali, detained in the room near the lockup in wrongful confinement. They were then released on personal bonds.

The police received information about the raid and shifted the abductees to the room near the lockup minutes before the raid. The complainant, however, identified the dupatta and slippers of her relative inside the lockup in the presence of the magistrate.

The judge, while expressing his dissatisfaction, ordered the officials of the SIU to open the rooms and, within a few minutes, they recovered the abductees.

Following the recovery, the magistrate ordered the duty officer and other police officials to appear before the district and sessions judge on Saturday.

The magistrate also directed the detainees and the applicant to ensure their presence in the court on the same day. The magistrate will also file her report on Saturday.

Court’s sources said that the police failed to produce any FIR or other documents to justify their detention at the SIU Jamshed Quarters.

The applicant had filed a habeas corpus application under Section 491 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the court, stating that the SIU had picked up her brother, nephew and sister from their house in a raid a couple of days back. She alleged that the police were demanding Rs100,000 as bribe for their release. The applicant prayed to the court for their safe recovery.

After hearing the application, the district and sessions judge (East) directed the magistrate to carry out the  raid on the information provided by the applicant and recover the victims if found in wrongful confinement.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2013.