Pak court raps police for demanding physical remand of under-trials escaped after quake

Karachi, Jun 8 (PTI) An Anti-Terrorism Court judge has rapped the police for asking for physical remand of 115 of the over 200 prisoners who escaped from the Malir Jail in Pakistan's Karachi during last week’s earthquake.

The judge, instead, sent the recaptured under-trial prisoners (UTPs) to prison on judicial remand as he did not find any reason to hand over the custody to the police.

The investigating officer of the case had produced the 115 prisoners in the judicial complex court and sought their physical remand for 14 days to arrest the remaining inmates at large when he was taken to task by the judge.

“Firstly that the accused persons are already UTPs in other cases, secondly no specific or individualised role has been attributed to each of the accused person, thirdly no fresh recoveries or evidence are shown to be dependent upon custodial interrogation,” the judge remarked.

An earthquake of magnitude 3.6 last Monday night caused panic in the Malir Jail barracks after a wall collapsed and the prisoners were hurriedly brought out into the compound.

In the ensuing confusion, 216 under-trial and convicted prisoners escaped the jail causing embarrassment to the jail authorities and home department.

So far, 126 escapees have either been re-arrested or returned voluntarily. At least 90 inmates remain at large, with police conducting a large-scale search operation to trace them.

To make the matters worse, a 25-year-old escaped inmate committed suicide in Madni Colony, Mauripur inside his sister’s home on Friday rather then return to jail.

He had been incarcerated at Malir Jail in connection with a narcotics case.

Malir jail official Zulfiqar Ali Peerzada said apart from some of the escaped prisoners, who returned voluntarily, the majority of the 126 inmates recaptured have now been booked under Anti-Terrorism laws. PTI CORR NPK NPK