Unlawful detention: Women illegally held in police station found

Police fail to produce any FIR lodged against the four women and two minors

KARACHI: A judicial magistrate recovered four women and two minors allegedly confined at the Iqbal Market police station after a raid on Saturday.

The women identified as Gul Afshan, Darakshan, Nargis Khatoon and Shama Rubab, and minors, three-year old Ananta and five-year old Shayan, were released on personal bond by the District West magistrate Ijaz Ali Abro as the police failed to produce any FIR against them.

However, the duty officer produced an FIR against detainee Karam Hussain, a relative of the released persons, registered under the Anti-Terrorism Act for allegedly attacking law enforcers.

On the directive of district judge Ghulam Mustafa Memon, the magistrate, along with the applicant, Saba, and her lawyer, raided the police station and found the detainees confined in a room, said a court official.

The applicant had moved a habeas corpus application, contending that the police have picked up her family members, including her father-in-law, mother-in-law and two children from their house on July 23.

The police were demanding bribe for the release of the detainees, she said. She pleaded the court for their recovery.

After presiding over a preliminary hearing, Memon appointed Abro as the raid commissioner. Abro was ordered to recover the detainees, as informed by the applicant, if found wrongfully confined in the police station.

The magistrate, after concluding the raid, ordered the SHO and duty officer of the Iqbal Market police station as well as the applicant to appear before the district judge on Monday to submit their responses.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2015.