Illegal detention?: Former SHO granted bail in missing persons case

Khairur Rehman went missing from Academy Town four years earlier.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has granted bail to the former SHO of Pishtakhara police, earlier arrested over a missing person case following which his bail application was dismissed by a district and sessions judge.

A single-member bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan accepted the bail of Arshad Khan and directed him to furnish two surety bonds of Rs200,000 each. The petitioner was represented by senior lawyers Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Abdul Latif Afridi.



Arshad was earlier charged of picking up Khairur Rehman from Academy Town with the help of a police team on February 9, 2009. Since then, Rehman has been missing. Later an FIR was registered against the then SHO on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Arshad was arrested on August 29. On September 27, district and sessions judge Shahber Khan rejected the bail application of the accused, saying he could not set him free as the FIR was registered on the orders of the Supreme Court.

Brother of the missing person and the complainant in the case, Saifullah, has accused Arshad of kidnapping Rehman. In the FIR, the complainant said he hails from Bajaur Agency, adding his brother Rehman and sister Khaista Jana moved to Academy Town due to the deteriorating law and order situation. He added they were residing on the top storey of a rented house while another family lived on the ground floor.



Saifullah claimed a police team led by former SHO Arshad Khan raided the house and recovered a kidnapped child from the residence of their neighbours. The police also took away Saifullah’s brother, sister and her two children.

They later released his sister and her children, but Rehman was never freed, said Saifullah. He added the SHO repeatedly told him his brother would be freed after interrogation, but that never happened.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2013.