PESHAWAR, May 25: A person kept in prison for five years without any trial by the assistant political agent (APA) of Frontier Region Kohat was granted bail by the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Ijaz Afzal took exception to the illegality committed by the APA and directed that the petitioner, Gul Madar, be released after furnishing two sureties of Rs200,000 each.

The petitioner claimed that he was arrested in 1999 on the orders of the APA, FR Kohat, and since then he had been in illegal detention at Kohat district prison.

Advocate Samiullah Afridi appeared for the petitioner and contended that during the last five years the APA and other departments could not decide whether he should be tried under the Frontier Crimes Regulation or by any of the regular court.

He was arrested on charges of kidnapping people for ransom. Petitioner's counsel contended that under the Constitution a detainee had to be produced before the court within 24 hours of his arrest. He added that even the formalities under the FCR were not fulfilled by the APA.

Mr Afridi contended that neither he was tried under the FCR nor under any other regular law. He pointed out that a controversy was going on between the administration of FR Kohat and Kohat district about the trial of the petitioner.

The bench expressed annoyance that why the petitioner was kept in prison for five years without trial. The additional advocate general, Pir Liaqat Ali, conceded that he was kept in prison without any trial.

The bench inquired from him under what law the APA could detain a person for such a long period. The AAJ stated that the dispute could not be resolved as to who would try the detainee.

The bench ordered that the petitioner should be released forthwith on bail. The bench observed that why the petitioner should suffer for the fault of administration.