Verdict in students’ detention case reserved

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday reserved verdict on a habeas corpus petition against the alleged illegal detention of five persons including students as the police said the detainees had been discharged.

Haider Ali Butt, a student, filed the petition for the recovery of his Zubair Siddiqui, Sanaullah, Ali Ashraf, Salman Sikandar and Haris Asad who were allegedly picked up by the police following a widespread protest against on-campus examination by some private universities.

On being summoned, the investigating officer appeared before Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and stated that the petition stood infructuous since the alleged detainees had been discharged of the cases.

Advocate Khawar Ghumman, on behalf of the petitioner, argued the police officials involved in the illegal detention of students should not be spared and needed to be punished under the law.

The counsel said the police personnel in civvies picked up the detainees from their residences without revealing the grounds of the arrest and shifted them to unknown places. He said the police committed illegality as one of the detained students had been granted pre-arrest bail by a sessions court. He said the police to hide its malafide booked the student in another FIR lodged after the arrest.

The investigating officer also failed to justify the timings of the arrest and the registration of the FIR. Justice Najafi expressed dismay over the investigating officer and reserved the verdict on the petition.

Meanwhile, a judicial magistrate granted post-arrest bail to 36 students of University of Central Punjab who were arrested by the police in an FIR got registered by the management of the institute on charges of attacking the security guards and vandalism.