Habeas corpus: Notices issued to Sindh IG and others in wrongful detention case

Orangi Town resident says her husband was picked up from Azad Kashmir.

KARACHI: A district and sessions court put on Tuesday the Sindh IGP and others on notice for the alleged wrongful detention of a man.

Apart from the IGP, the district and sessions judge in district South, Ahmed Saba, issued notices to the Crime Investigation Department’s (CID) SSP and the CID SHO to submit their replies by today (March 19).

The court also sought comments and reports from the CID DIG and the Rangers authorities.

The petitioner, Ambreen, had gone to court saying that her husband, Muhammad Ali Khan, was allegedly in the custody of the law enforcers. In her application, filed under section 491 (power to issue directions of the nature of habeas corpus) of the Criminal Procedure Code, she stated that Khan had gone to meet his sister in Bhambar area of Azad Kashmir on March 13, this year.

On the same night, Ali Bagh police station SHO and a team of the CID and Rangers officials barged into Khan’s sister’s house and took him into custody. Subsequently, Khan was brought to Karachi but the family was not given any information about his detention, she added.  Ambreen, a resident of Orangi Town, told the court that she also filed an application with the Orangi Town SHO but to no avail. She feared that her husband has died and the law enforcers will disclose his death in an alleged encounter.

The petitioner pleaded the court direct the authorities produce her husband, if he is alive, or submit details in case he has died or has been detained unlawfully by the law enforcers.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2014.