Court raid: Teenage boy recovered from illegal police custody

Investigation officer said Aziz was arrested when he was found wandering on streets under suspicious circumstances.

KARACHI:

A bailiff recovered a teenage boy kept in wrongful confinement for the past couple of days at the Quaidabad police station.

During a raid conducted on the directives of a district and sessions court on Tuesday, bailiff Harsi, the applicant and his lawyer raided the police station and found 14-year-old Abdul Aziz. The bailiff added that the police were unable to produce an FIR, however, they produced a two-day-old entry regarding his detention under Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows the police to conduct an arrest without a warrant.

In arrests made under section 54, the police are bound to release the suspect or produce him before the court in 24 hours. However, Aziz was neither released nor produced before court.

The complainant, Naeem, moved a habeas corpus application filed under section 491 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the court and submitted that his son was picked up by the police and detained at the police station.

In his application, Naeem said that his son had gone missing two days ago and he only came to know about his detention when he went to seek the police’s help at the Khuldabad police chowki. He also alleged that the police demanded Rs50,000 for his release.

Following the application, the district and sessions judge Malir, Muhammad Yamin, ordered the bailiff to carry out a raid on the information provided by the applicant.

The investigation officer said that Aziz was arrested when he was found wandering on the streets under suspicious circumstances. He apologised when the court expressed dissatisfaction over his response. The court handed the custody of the boy over to his father and disposed the case off when the applicant accepted his apology.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2014.