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| April 21, 2006 | Friday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 22, 1427 |
Innocent man spends 42 days in jail: Branded a terrorist
BAHAWALPUR, April 20: A man arrested by local police two years ago as a terror suspect and kept in detention for 42 days was actually implicated.
After two years of legal battle, Ghulam Yaseen Ahmed Bokhari managed to get a case registered on Thursday against over a dozen policemen, including a former Rawalpindi SSP, on charges of abducting and keeping him in illegal confinement.
Carrying out orders of Lahore High Court’s local bench, Bahawalpur Cantonment police registered a case against former Rawalpindi SSP Syed Marwat Ali Shah, DSPs Rana Shahid, Sardar Maqsood, SHOs Rana Saqlain, Chaudhry Muhammad Maroof, SI Mahar Allah Yar, four constables, former Bahawalpur DSP Karamatullah Malik, Syed Kamran Gardezi and others.
The petitioner submitted that he had given Rs2 million to Syed Kamran Gardezi. He said his amount was returned in cheques which were dishonoured. Later, he was paid Rs220,000 in cash while the balance payment was not returned to him despite repeated requests. At this, he moved the court of a senior civil judge for the recovery of his remaining amount.
He said that Kamran Gardezi hatched a conspiracy against him and involved him in a false case. He said that he was branded as a mastermind in the attempted murder of the country’s highest authority.
Bokhari said that he was abducted by former DSP Karamatullah’s men on Dec 20, 2003, when he was going on his motorcycle. Later, he was shifted to quarters of Abbasnagar police station where he was handcuffed, chained and tortured. He was also deprived of his cash and a gold ring.
Next morning, he alleged that Pindi inspector Chaudhry Maroof, SI Mahar Allah Yar and four constables blind-folded him and took him to Ganj Mandi police station, Rawalpindi, by a wagon. He was again subjected to torture there.
The victim further stated that he was shifted to Banni police station on Jan 11, 2004, after police branded him as an activist of a terrorist organisation. A news was also released to the media in Rawalpindi the same night in this respect. Following morning, he said his children had contradicted the police claim in a press conference in Bahawalpur.
Later, the Rawalpindi police handed him over to the army personnel on Jan 24, 2004, who declared him innocent directing Banni police to release him on Jan 30. However, the Rawalpindi police did not comply with the orders. On Feb 7, he observed a hunger strike after which the police handed him over to Bahawalpur DSP Karamatullah. He prayed the court that he should be protected from the police highhandedness as he still apprehended his arrest.
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