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Karachi
The jailers of three major prisons in the province had skipped legal formalities when releasing under-trial prisoners (UTPs) and convicts on parole in the recent past, a prisons department report has disclosed.
“The jailers of the Central Prison Karachi, the District Prison Malir/Landhi Karachi and the Central Prison Hyderabad released a total of 64 UTPs and six convicts on temporary parole, but did not fulfil all the pre-requisite formalities before releasing them,” it was stated in the document reviewed by The News on Friday. The report was prepared in compliance with the directions of the apex court.
In its verdict issued on November 1 in the suo moto case of the law and order situation in Karachi, the Supreme Court had observed that 35 UTPs, charged with heinous offences and refused bail, were released on parole by the government in order to defeat the judicial process.
The report provided prison-wise details of discrepancies and lapses on the part of prison authorities and their replies.
Central Prison Karachi
The prisons department said the report that Superintendent Rashid Saeed, Deputy Superintendent Nazeer Ahmed Qazi and Assistant Superintendent Shahabuddin Siddiqui were posted at the Central Prison Karachi when 48 UTPs and two convicts were released on parole there without fulfilling the formalities.
The superintendent provided personal bond copies of only 19 prisoners.
The custody of the prisoners was handed over to New Town DSP Nazeer Ahmed Tanoli, Bahadurabad DSP Mazhar Hussain and DSP Imran Pasha.
The superintendent claimed that after the expiry of the release, he had sent a letter to the home department for regaining their custody in 2004.
However, the report added, he had not provided details about any further progress.
The jailer was also unable to provide the prisoners’ history tickets, which describe the inmates’ behaviour in jail and justify their release on parole.
District Prison Malir
Superintendent Abdul Majeed Siddiqui, Anwar Mustafa Rizvi, Deputy Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent Ghazanfar Iqbal were posted at the District Prison Malir at the time when 12 UTPs were released there on temporary parole.
The report disclosed that the superintendent had not provided details about the fulfilment of the pre-requisite formalities regarding the prisoners’ release.
However, he intimated that the home department had conveyed the approval for the release of the UTPs on temporary parole for a period of seven days - from January 22 to 18, 2005 - subject to furnishing a personal bond. During the parole period, the prisoners were supposed to be under the charge of town police officer concerned.
The superintendent claimed that personal bonds were obtained as per the directions of the home department at the time of release of the prisoners. But it was stated in the report that the jail official had not furnished the relevant records to verify his claim.
The superintendent in his reply said the custody of the prisoners was handed over to Ghulam Nabi, the inspector in-charge of investigation at the Garden police station.
The jailer further said on the expiry of the temporary parole period, he had sent a letter to the home department for further orders. But he neither furnished the copy of the letter nor informed about any further progress, the report added. He was also unable to produce the history tickets of the prisoners.
Central Prison Hyderabad
Superintendent UK Shaikh, Deputy Superintendent Nusrat Hussain Mangan, Assistant Superintendent Muhammad Aslam Rana and other officials including Manzoor Ahmed Memon, Jamaluddin Marri, Mirza Fateh Ali Baig and Afaq Ahmed were posted at the Central Prison Hyderabad when four UTPs and four convicts were released there.
The superintendent was unable to produce the records of the paroled men to the prisons inspectorate with the exception of one of them.
He admitted that the records about the custody of three convicts and three UTPs were not available. The custody of one convict and one UTP was handed over to the Hyderabad district police, but the report added the jailer had not provided the names and designations of the police officers who had taken the custody.
In the report, the prisons department said 64 UTPs were released on parole by the Central Prison Karachi, Central Prison Hyderabad and District Prison Malir at different times in the years 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2012. Six convicts were also released during this period.
The cases of 28 of these UTPs and four convicts were disposed of by the courts during the parole period. The remaining 36 UTPs and two convicts were still at large and cases were pending against them.
About the 27 UTPs of the Central Prison Karachi whose cases were disposed of, the prisons department said they were either acquitted, their cases were withdrawn by the government or the courts had granted them bail. They were subsequently acquitted during different times till 2006.
A few of these prisoners were jailed again at the Central Prison Karachi in other cases, but were subsequently released by the courts.
One prisoner, who was released on a 15-day parole by the Central Prison Hyderabad in 1997 by the home department, was involved in over a dozen cases and they were still pending.
Seven prisoners, who were facing trial before different courts, were released on parole in 2005, but the cases against them were still pending.
Apex court verdict
In its verdict, the Supreme Court had observed that neither the Act of 1926 nor the rules framed there-under allowed any authority to release UTPs in this manner.
The court had noted that the UTPs’ whereabouts were unknown. This apparently meant they did not appear before the trial court during the parole period.
“In any event, on one side hue and cry is made by the government about the law and order situation on the pretext of terrorism and on the other hand, the government is releasing the convicts and UTPs who have purportedly committed heinous crime, including the acts of terrorism,” it was stated in the judgement.
“These instances clearly reflect mala-fide conduct of the Government of Sindh in dealing with the poor law and order situation in Sindh particularly at Karachi, which if continued, will never bring peace and rest in Karachi/Sindh.”
The apex court had also observed that the history tickets of the released prisoners were not placed. This reflects that the behaviour of the prisoners was good in jail.
Convicts might be released after serving one-third of the substantive sentence, but in many cases, this ingredient was missing.
The apex court had remarked that the officials, who released the convicts on parole, had not furnished any material that could satisfy that they the released men would abstain from repeating the crime they had committed and lead useful and peaceful lives as civilised citizens.
The jailers of three major prisons in the province had skipped legal formalities when releasing under-trial prisoners (UTPs) and convicts on parole in the recent past, a prisons department report has disclosed.
“The jailers of the Central Prison Karachi, the District Prison Malir/Landhi Karachi and the Central Prison Hyderabad released a total of 64 UTPs and six convicts on temporary parole, but did not fulfil all the pre-requisite formalities before releasing them,” it was stated in the document reviewed by The News on Friday. The report was prepared in compliance with the directions of the apex court.
In its verdict issued on November 1 in the suo moto case of the law and order situation in Karachi, the Supreme Court had observed that 35 UTPs, charged with heinous offences and refused bail, were released on parole by the government in order to defeat the judicial process.
The report provided prison-wise details of discrepancies and lapses on the part of prison authorities and their replies.
Central Prison Karachi
The prisons department said the report that Superintendent Rashid Saeed, Deputy Superintendent Nazeer Ahmed Qazi and Assistant Superintendent Shahabuddin Siddiqui were posted at the Central Prison Karachi when 48 UTPs and two convicts were released on parole there without fulfilling the formalities.
The superintendent provided personal bond copies of only 19 prisoners.
The custody of the prisoners was handed over to New Town DSP Nazeer Ahmed Tanoli, Bahadurabad DSP Mazhar Hussain and DSP Imran Pasha.
The superintendent claimed that after the expiry of the release, he had sent a letter to the home department for regaining their custody in 2004.
However, the report added, he had not provided details about any further progress.
The jailer was also unable to provide the prisoners’ history tickets, which describe the inmates’ behaviour in jail and justify their release on parole.
District Prison Malir
Superintendent Abdul Majeed Siddiqui, Anwar Mustafa Rizvi, Deputy Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent Ghazanfar Iqbal were posted at the District Prison Malir at the time when 12 UTPs were released there on temporary parole.
The report disclosed that the superintendent had not provided details about the fulfilment of the pre-requisite formalities regarding the prisoners’ release.
However, he intimated that the home department had conveyed the approval for the release of the UTPs on temporary parole for a period of seven days - from January 22 to 18, 2005 - subject to furnishing a personal bond. During the parole period, the prisoners were supposed to be under the charge of town police officer concerned.
The superintendent claimed that personal bonds were obtained as per the directions of the home department at the time of release of the prisoners. But it was stated in the report that the jail official had not furnished the relevant records to verify his claim.
The superintendent in his reply said the custody of the prisoners was handed over to Ghulam Nabi, the inspector in-charge of investigation at the Garden police station.
The jailer further said on the expiry of the temporary parole period, he had sent a letter to the home department for further orders. But he neither furnished the copy of the letter nor informed about any further progress, the report added. He was also unable to produce the history tickets of the prisoners.
Central Prison Hyderabad
Superintendent UK Shaikh, Deputy Superintendent Nusrat Hussain Mangan, Assistant Superintendent Muhammad Aslam Rana and other officials including Manzoor Ahmed Memon, Jamaluddin Marri, Mirza Fateh Ali Baig and Afaq Ahmed were posted at the Central Prison Hyderabad when four UTPs and four convicts were released there.
The superintendent was unable to produce the records of the paroled men to the prisons inspectorate with the exception of one of them.
He admitted that the records about the custody of three convicts and three UTPs were not available. The custody of one convict and one UTP was handed over to the Hyderabad district police, but the report added the jailer had not provided the names and designations of the police officers who had taken the custody.
In the report, the prisons department said 64 UTPs were released on parole by the Central Prison Karachi, Central Prison Hyderabad and District Prison Malir at different times in the years 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2012. Six convicts were also released during this period.
The cases of 28 of these UTPs and four convicts were disposed of by the courts during the parole period. The remaining 36 UTPs and two convicts were still at large and cases were pending against them.
About the 27 UTPs of the Central Prison Karachi whose cases were disposed of, the prisons department said they were either acquitted, their cases were withdrawn by the government or the courts had granted them bail. They were subsequently acquitted during different times till 2006.
A few of these prisoners were jailed again at the Central Prison Karachi in other cases, but were subsequently released by the courts.
One prisoner, who was released on a 15-day parole by the Central Prison Hyderabad in 1997 by the home department, was involved in over a dozen cases and they were still pending.
Seven prisoners, who were facing trial before different courts, were released on parole in 2005, but the cases against them were still pending.
Apex court verdict
In its verdict, the Supreme Court had observed that neither the Act of 1926 nor the rules framed there-under allowed any authority to release UTPs in this manner.
The court had noted that the UTPs’ whereabouts were unknown. This apparently meant they did not appear before the trial court during the parole period.
“In any event, on one side hue and cry is made by the government about the law and order situation on the pretext of terrorism and on the other hand, the government is releasing the convicts and UTPs who have purportedly committed heinous crime, including the acts of terrorism,” it was stated in the judgement.
“These instances clearly reflect mala-fide conduct of the Government of Sindh in dealing with the poor law and order situation in Sindh particularly at Karachi, which if continued, will never bring peace and rest in Karachi/Sindh.”
The apex court had also observed that the history tickets of the released prisoners were not placed. This reflects that the behaviour of the prisoners was good in jail.
Convicts might be released after serving one-third of the substantive sentence, but in many cases, this ingredient was missing.
The apex court had remarked that the officials, who released the convicts on parole, had not furnished any material that could satisfy that they the released men would abstain from repeating the crime they had committed and lead useful and peaceful lives as civilised citizens.
Posted in: Karachi News
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