PHC orders security for imprisoned Indian

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed the superintendent of the Peshawar Central Prison to adopt security measures for protecting the imprisoned Indian national as he was twice attacked by other prisoners.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Qalandar Ali Khan directed the prison superintendent Masoodur Rehman to hold a meeting with human rights activist Rakhshanda Naz and find a solution for safety and security of the Indian convict in the prison.

The bench asked him to take consent of the prisoner on the security and safety measures and submit a report about it before the next hearing of the case. Rakhshanda Naz, who has been appearing in the case, is also in contact with the said prisoner.

During the course of hearing, Justice Qalandar Ali Khan told the prison superintendent that it was his responsibility to protect the Indian prisoner’s life. He was directed to control the situation in the prison as this prisoner was attacked several times and tortured by the prisoners.

The court was hearing an application of the Indian prisoner seeking his shifting to a secure place in the prison as he felt life threat from other prisoners.The prison superintendent, Masoodur Rehman informed the court that the imprisoned person was kept in the death cell due to security reasons as he had quarrelled with a prisoner in a barrack and both were injured. Later, he said the matter was resolved.

The superintendent submitted that he had suspended the jail’s head warder on the complaint of the prisoner who complained that he had incited the prisoners against him. He informed the bench that the prison was overcrowded and this was the reason more than one prisoner had to be kept in a death cell. He noted that the prison had 3,000 prisoners though it had capacity of 350 prisoners.

The jail superintendent argued that minor incidents of quarrel were a routine matter in the crowded prison and he cannot give an assurance to the court that such acts would be completely stopped.

Still Justice Qalandar Ali Khan told the superintendent of the prison that he was responsible to control such incidents and maintain peaceful environment in the prison.Earlier, the petitioner’s lawyer Qazi Anwar argued that the petitioner was kept in solitary confinement.

He said they had requested the high court to shift him to a better place.The lawyer said that recently one of the prisoners attacked the Indian prisoner and bit him on his arm. He added that the said prisoner had been frequently hurling threats at the petitioner and threatening to teach him a lesson as the Indian forces were committing atrocities in Occupied Kashmir.

The petitioner had gone missing after he was taken into custody by the intelligence agencies and local police in Kohat district in November 2012. Finally in reply to a habeas corpus petition filed by his mother Fauzia Ansari, the high court was informed on January 13 that he was in the custody of the army and was being tried by a military court.

In February it surfaced that the petitioner was convicted by a military court and shifted to the Peshawar Central Prison.

The petitioner, a 31-year-old MBA degree holder, was a teacher at Mumbai Management College. The petitioner stated that he left India for Afghanistan on November 4, 2012 on a valid tourist visa. He reportedly left Jalalabad for Peshawar on November 12, 2012 and entered Pakistan with a fake identity card in the name of Hamza sent to him by his Facebook friends from Karak, with whom he stayed for two days.He said that on November 14, 2012 his friend left him at a hotel in Kohat and he was subsequently arrested.