Defying court orders: Police refuse to release man kept in ‘illegal confinement’

The officials were unable to produce any documents of his arrest or his crimes.

KARACHI: A head bailiff found on Friday a man allegedly kept in wrongful confinement for the past few days at the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) office in a raid conducted on the directives of a district and sessions judge.

However, the police officials refused to release the detainee, defying court orders.

Muhammad Ali Channa had filed a habeas corpus application - used to present a detainee before the relevant court - under Section 491 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the South District and Sessions Court. Channa stated that the police had picked up his son-in-law, Naeem Butt, and have illegally kept him in custody. He requested the court for his recovery.

Following the application, Judge Ahmed Saba directed the head bailiff to carry out a raid and recover the victim if he is found to be in wrongful confinement.

The bailiff said that he, along with the applicant and his lawyer, raided the SIU office and found Butt handcuffed in sub-inspector Ghaus Alam's office. He said that the relevant officials failed to produce an FIR or an entry in the Roznamcha [the police's daily diary] regarding his arrest.

The bailiff said that he had directed the police to release the detainee on a personal bond as he was unlawfully detained but the duty officer refused to act on the orders.

Butt told the bailiff that the police arrested him from the airport when he had arrived in Karachi from Malaysia on April 25. He alleged that police officials have already taken Rs100,000 from him and were demanding another Rs200,000 for his release.

According to the bailiff, the police officials denied the allegations and claimed that Butt was detained for his alleged involvement in several criminal cases that were lodged in 2003 and 2004. However, they were unable to produce an FIR or a record to prove their claim, he added.

The bailiff directed the sub-inspector and the duty officer of the SIU to appear before the court of the district and sessions judge along with the detainee on Saturday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2014.