RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday reserved its verdict on a habeas corpus petition against the alleged detention of students Zubair Siddiqui and others after police informed that the detainees had been discharged.

A student, Haider Ali Butt, approached the court for the recovery of his fellows 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.

Earlier, an investigating officer appeared before the court and stated that the petition stood in-fructuous since the alleged detainees had been discharged of the cases. The investigating officer however failed to justify the timings of the arrest and the registration of the FIR.

The court expressed dismay over the investigating officer and reserved the verdict on the petition.

Earlier, the petitioner’s 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 booked the student in another FIR lodged after the arrest. He argued that the police officials involved in the illegal detention of the students should not be spared and needed to be punished under the law.

He referred several judgments of the high court wherein the police officials had been punished and slapped with fine for keeping citizens in illegal detention.

Meanwhile, a judicial magistrate granted post-arrest bail to 36 students on charges of attacking the security guards and vandalism.