Rangers sepoy goes to court, says he deserves reduction in sentence
SHC questions defence ministry, Rangers over court-martialled soldier's plea.
"My client was denied the benefit of Section 382-B of the CPC, which allows the period of a person’s arrest to be counted in the sentence," Lawyer Zulfiqar Ali Langah. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
KARACHI:
A court-martialled Rangers sepoy has gone to court against the defence ministry and Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, for detaining him allegedly beyond his sentence.
Muhammad Uris complained that he was not extended special or general remissions, which are permissible under the country's Constitution and prison rules to prisoners who display good behaviour. Uris was court martialled in 1999 for allegedly leaking official secrets. During the hearing on Tuesday, the Sindh High Court bench - headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh - issued notices to the defence ministry and the Rangers director-general to file their comments by April 14. The jail superintendent was also ordered to furnish the jail roll of the petitioner at the next hearing. Uris told the judges that he joined the Sindh Rangers' Shahbaz Wing in 1998 and was arrested by the security forces during his posting in Jamshoro on June 1, 2011. He was handed over to the Military Intelligence for interrogation.
Following a nearly 17-month-long detention, the Field General Court Martial in Karachi convicted him under Section 59 of the Pakistan Army Act, read with Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act 1923 and sentenced him to three years in prison on November 16, 2012.
His lawyer, Zulfiqar Ali Langah, claimed that his client was denied the benefit of Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows the period of a person's arrest to be counted in the sentence. He has been in jail since January 17, 2013, during which neither was he extended general remissions under the Pakistan Prison Rules nor were any special remissions announced by the president and prime minister on national holidays. Langah said this is a gross violation of the fundamental rights of the citizens as well as the prisoners. The court was pleaded to order the central jail superintendent to provide the jail roll of the petitioner as well as the copies of the military court's judgment of conviction.
Langah further argued that his client is entitled to the benefit of release by counting the period of his arrest till his conviction as the total period of his sentence, as the high court has already ordered in an identical case of one Abdul Ghani.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 3rd, 2014.
A court-martialled Rangers sepoy has gone to court against the defence ministry and Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, for detaining him allegedly beyond his sentence.
Muhammad Uris complained that he was not extended special or general remissions, which are permissible under the country's Constitution and prison rules to prisoners who display good behaviour. Uris was court martialled in 1999 for allegedly leaking official secrets. During the hearing on Tuesday, the Sindh High Court bench - headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh - issued notices to the defence ministry and the Rangers director-general to file their comments by April 14. The jail superintendent was also ordered to furnish the jail roll of the petitioner at the next hearing. Uris told the judges that he joined the Sindh Rangers' Shahbaz Wing in 1998 and was arrested by the security forces during his posting in Jamshoro on June 1, 2011. He was handed over to the Military Intelligence for interrogation.
Following a nearly 17-month-long detention, the Field General Court Martial in Karachi convicted him under Section 59 of the Pakistan Army Act, read with Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act 1923 and sentenced him to three years in prison on November 16, 2012.
His lawyer, Zulfiqar Ali Langah, claimed that his client was denied the benefit of Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows the period of a person's arrest to be counted in the sentence. He has been in jail since January 17, 2013, during which neither was he extended general remissions under the Pakistan Prison Rules nor were any special remissions announced by the president and prime minister on national holidays. Langah said this is a gross violation of the fundamental rights of the citizens as well as the prisoners. The court was pleaded to order the central jail superintendent to provide the jail roll of the petitioner as well as the copies of the military court's judgment of conviction.
Langah further argued that his client is entitled to the benefit of release by counting the period of his arrest till his conviction as the total period of his sentence, as the high court has already ordered in an identical case of one Abdul Ghani.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 3rd, 2014.