PESHAWAR, Oct 11: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday sought comments from the station house officer (SHO) of Kohat Cantt police station in connection with the keeping of a minor boy in illegal detention.

The bench, comprising Justice Malik Hamid Saeed, directed a law officer to positively furnish comments on the next date. The court fixed Oct 19 for next hearing.

The order was issued in a habeas corpus petition filed against detention of Akhter Raziq, stated to be 12 years old. Earlier, the court had sent a bailiff to Kohat to verify the presence of the detenu in the lock-up. However, when the police came to know about the visit, they released him.

Advocate Bashir Khan Tanghi appeared for the petitioner and contended that action should be taken against the police for keeping the boy in illegal detention.

The petitioner had claimed that the father of the detenu, Khan Raziq was a tenant on the land owned by a lady, Mrs Rasheeda Bangash. He claimed that he suffered losses in the crop and could not pay the dues outstanding against him. The petitioner alleged that on the instance of the lady, the police had detained Akhter Raziq on Sept 12.

The detenu was neither produced before any court of law nor any FIR was registered against him. Although the detenu was released later on, the petitioner has now been contending that action should be taken against the police officer.