Under-trial prisoner slips from SIU’s custody at court

Karachi
An under-trial prisoner charged with possession of explosives escaped from the premises of the anti-terrorism courts housed in old KMC rest house on MT Khan Road on Monday.
Tanveer alias Jambu was being tried in ATC-IX from where he managed to remove his handcuffs and fled from right under the noses of police personnel of the Special Investigation Unit of the Sindh Police who had brought him for the hearing from Central Jail Karachi while they remained unaware about their prisoner’s escapade.
When the case came up for hearing in the court, the policemen who had brought the prisoner began searching for him to present him before the judge. They told the court that they had brought Tanveer Jambu to court at around 8:30 in the morning.
The judge concerned directed them to wait outside and bring in the accused after witnesses in the case have made their statements. The witnesses appeared in court around 11am after which the judge again asked the policemen to produce the accused as well.
However, Tanveer Jambu was not to be found anywhere.
The under-trial prisoner was arrested by the Special Investigation Unit in 2014 from within the remit of Ibrahim Hyderi police station in a case (FIR No 241/14) registered under sections 4/5 of the Explosive Substances Act 1908.
The sections deal with the crime of possessing explosives with the intention of causing an explosion and endangering life and property.
Since the police had claimed that they had recovered hand grenades and other explosive material from the possession of Tanveer Jambu, the accused was being tried as a dangerous terrorist.
Meanwhile, taking notice of the grave negligence, the anti-terrorism court wrote a letter to Sindh IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali and Additional IG Karachi Mushtaq Mehar to take prompt legal action against the policemen responsible for enabling an under-trial prisoner run away from court premises.
It was said a policeman had been deputed for escorting the handcuffed accused but he managed to uncuff himself and escape.
In February 2013, another under-trial prisoner Rajab Ali alias Sain Dad, facing charges of kidnapping for ransom and possession of illegal weapons, had escaped from the heavily-guarded anti-terrorism courts complex when he was brought back to the make-shift lockup after his hearing.
The authorities said the accused unlocked his handcuffs and sprung the adjacent wall of the KPT warehouse and escaped.
The later in July, eight under-trial prisoners escaped from city courts and anti-terrorism courts when they appeared for hearings within the span of a week.