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Criminal Miscellaneous No. 462-M and Criminal Original No. 35 of 1986, decided on 12th October, 1986.

---S. 491--Habeas corpus--Issuance of notice--Habeus corpus petition dismissed on submission of affidavits of respondent police officers- Detenus found later on by bailiff of Court deputed to recover some other detenus in another petition from another police station-- Detenus recovered from residence of S.H.O.--On receipt of report of bailiff, notice issued to respondents for filing false affidavits and proceeding against them in accordance with law--Detenus not stating before bailiff of their detention by respondents--Affidavits filed by some residents much after report of bailiff--Such persons not named as witnesses in complaint--S. H .O. of police station on ex-Pakistan leave--Nobody else residing in his residential quarter--No allegation of detention of detenus in residential quarter by respondents--No reliance, held, could be placed on affidavits filed by residents and it could not be said with certainty that respondents detained the detenus in residential quarter of S.H.O. of another police station--Notice recalled and proceedings consigned to record in circumstances.

Syed Zain-ul-Abidin and Ahmed Awais for the State.

This order will dispose of Criminal Miscellaneous No. 462/M of 1986 and Criminal Original 35 of 1986 together as common questions of law and facts are involved.

2. In brief the facts are that Akhlaq Ahmad had filed Criminal Miscellaneous 266-H of 1986 seeking release of his father Haji Chiragh and his brother Muhammad Ashfaq from the alleged illegal custody of Hamid Mukhtar Gondal, D.S.P., New Anarkali, Lahore. This petition was dismissed on account of the affidavits filed by Hamid Mukhtar Gondal, D.S.P. and other police officers to the effect that Haji Chiragh and Muhammad Ashfaq were not in their custody. A few days thereafter another Criminal Miscellaneous No. 272/H of 1986 was filed by Syed Munir Hussain for recovery of Syed Sikandar Hussain and Tahir Hanif from the alleged illegal custody of S.H.O. Police Station, Shahdara. A bailiff of this Court was deputed to recover these detenus. The bailiff went to the alleged place of detention on 1-7-1986 at 3-15 p.m. and found Syed Sikandar Hussain and Tahir Hanif, the alleged detenus, 'sitting on the floor in the room in the residence of S. H.O. Police Station Shahdara'. He filed his report on 2-7-1986 in this Court. It was stated by him in the said report that two other persons namely haji Chiragh and his son Muhammad Ashfaq residents of 6/A Kasur Road Samanabad, Lahore were also detained there and were being guarded by Muhammad Khalid (F.C. No. 6698). On receipt of this report on 2-7-1986 I issued notice to Hamid Mukhtar Gondal and other police officer to show cause as to why action according to law be not taken against them for filing false affidavits and for misstatements of facts in this Court. These proceedings were registered as Criminal Miscellaneous No. 462-M of 1986.

On 3-7-1986 Akhlaq Ahmad filed Criminal Original 35 of 1986 on the basis of the report of the bailiff and my order, dated 2-7-1986 given in detail above. The petitioner has appended affidavits of Haji Muhammad Sardar, Kh. Muhammad Anwar, Muhammad Sohail, Muhammad Hanif, Abdul Aziz, all residents of the locality to support his petition. He also appended affidavits of Akhlaq Ahmad, Zafar-ul-Hassan, Saleem Akhtar. All the above affidavits were drafted on 15-7-1986 but attested on 26-7-1986. The affidavits of Captain Abdur Rashid Kiani and his father Haji Chiragh Din were also attested on 26-7-1986.

3. The police officers filed reply to the show-cause notice on the last date of hearing. They denied knowledge of the detention of any of the four alleged detenus in the house of S.H.O. Police Station, Shahdara. It is contended by the learned counsel for Akhlaq Ahmed that the facts and circumstances of the case justify proceedings against the three police officers for making false statements in this Court and also for contempt of Court. I have carefully examined the affidavits and the circumstances of this case. All these affidavits were executed and attested many days after the report of the bailiff, dated 2-7-1986. Ashfaq Ahmad and his father Chiragh Din alleged detenu did not stated before the bailiff on 1-7-1986 that they had been kept in the house of S.H.O., Shahdara by D.S.P., Hamid Mukhtar Gondal or Rehmat Ullah Niazi, S.H.O. or Muhammad Ashraf Zahid S.H.O. From the facts and circumstances of this case it cannot be said with certainty that Haji Chiragh Din and his son Ashfaq Ahmad had been kept at the residence of the S.H.O., Shahdara by any of the above-named three officers. The affidavits cannot be relied upon. The persons who have filed affidavits were not named as witnesses in Criminal Original 35 of 1986. Most of these affidavits were written on 15-7-1986 but attested on 26-7-1986 and worded identically. I am not prepared to place any reliance on this affidavits. The S.H.O. Police Station, Shahdara was himself on ex-Pakistan leave. Nobody else seems to be residing in his residential quarter attached with the police station. It has not been alleged in the Criminal Original 35 of 1986 that Haji Chiragh and his son Ashfaq Ahmad had been detained in the house of S.H.O., Shahdara by any of the three respondents officers. I, therefore, do not think it proper to initiate proceedings against them. The notice in Criminal Miscellaneous 462-M of 1986 is recalled. The proceedings in this case be consigned to record. The Criminal Original 35 of 1986 is resultantly dismissed in limine.

S.A. Petition dismissed.

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