Holiday release: Eid reprieve for some prisoners, despair for others

Over 200 prisoners granted bail at city courts on day before holidays.

LAHORE:

There were mixed emotions at the city’s courts here on Wednesday, as hundreds of prisoners under trial for minor offences received bail in time for the Eid holidays, while others did not.

More than 200 were granted bail at the Model Town, Cantt and District Courts here, including Muhammad Zaman, a father of two girls. Zaman was produced before a magistrate at Model Town in a case for possession of 100 grams of hashish.

Zaman admitted that he had been caught in possession of the amount and had been very anxious about getting bail. “This was my first time in jail and I was so tense,” he said.

Zaman said that before he had been arrested, he had promised his teenage daughters that he would buy them henna, bangles and earrings for Eid. “I missed them so much. Now I can keep my promise to them,” he said.



Muhammad Ayub was despondent that he had not been granted bail in another drug possession case. He claimed that he had been arrested with 500 grams of hashish, but the police had written in their report that he had been carrying a kilogram of the drug. He said that he was “very sad” that he would not be able to celebrate Eid with his family.

Some prisoners at the judicial lock-up were afraid that their bail hearings would not come up before the end of the day on Monday. One prisoner, Mustafa, got so angry he began threatening a constable named Ashraf, saying he would blame him if court hours were over before his bail hearing.

The constable remained calm and assured him his turn would come.

Meanwhile, outside the court rooms, prisoners’ wives prayed for their loved ones’ release and children watched their handcuffed fathers being brought out, hoping they could celebrate Eid as a family.

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