Notice issued: High court questions ‘illegal’ confinement of 41 inmates

The petitioner argues that innocent persons are detained in Sindh jails.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued notice to the prime minister’s principal secretary, Sindh chief minister, Sindh IGP, the prison police and others over the alleged unlawful detention of 41 persons in the province’s prisons.

Justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai, who headed the bench, also issued notices to the provincial advocate-general to file comments of the relevant authorities by February 11.

Ansar Burney Trust International had approached the high court against the alleged detention of the innocent persons in place of criminals. The petitioner had taken the principal secretary to the prime minister, Sindh chief minister, the interior ministry, the chairperson of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), the minister for prisons department, the additional chief secretary for home, the prisons IG and Sindh police IG to court.

The petitioner submitted that during a briefing about the law and order situation in Karachi, PM Nawaz Sharif was informed that NADRA’s verification process had found that 41 fake prisoners were languishing in the jails across the province in place of criminals.  The trust claimed that the detention of the innocent persons is against their individual liberty while the actual accused have been set free by the authorities due to which the law and order situation was worsening in the city.



“It is crystal clear that either negligently or willfully, the real culprits have been given a free hand and liberty to prey on innocent people under the leadership of corrupt government officials, who are bent on destroying the peaceful environment of the province,” argued the trust. The court was pleaded to order the authorities to immediately set free and compensate the innocent people.

On Monday, the trust’s lawyer moved an application seeking urgent hearing of the case. The bench issued notice to the respondents and the Sindh advocate-general for February 11.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2014.