Youhanabad riots: 11 ‘detained’ people produced in court

Lahore High Court ordered police on Wednesday to produce three allegedly detained people, accused of lynching two men in the Youhanabad riots, in court on April 13. On Wednesday, 11 of the “detained” people appeared before court and recorded statements that they had come to court from their homes. They said that they had neither been arrested nor tortured by the police. Earlier, the police had said that of the 14 people, alleged to have been detained, 11 were home, one of them, Sohail Johnson, was out of the country. Police said they were not aware of the whereabouts of the other two. The judge had not accepted the statement and had ordered police to produce all 14. Several petitioners had filed the petitions alleging that the police had detained their family members without evidence and had denied them access to them. They said the police had not produced any of the detained men before court.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2015.