Dawn
the internet edition

10 April 1999

Arrest of approver in Hakim Said case challenged
By Our Staff Reporter

KARACHI, April 9: The grandmother of Saeed Bhai, one of the two approvers in the Hakim Said case and who turned hostile in the military trial court, has submitted before the High Court of Sindh, in a petition that he was being held in illegal custody.

Mrs Shabaratan, widow of Din Mohammad has submitted in her petition that Saeed Bhai and his female family members were detained in police custody and were tortured and disgraced and they were forced by the police for confession of Saeed Bhai in the offence, in which he was not involved.

The family members of the accused Saeed Bhai were kept in illegal police custody and under threat they were forced to persuade Saeed to become approver in the false case to give false evidence against other co-accused and innocent persons.

There was great danger to the life of Saeed Bhai and his family at the hands of the CIA Police and other law-enforcement agencies who were insisting on him to confess the crime which he had not committed and also to become approver. He had agreed to play the role as dictated by the police, only to save his life and that of his family members, including the female members of his family.

The petitioner has said when the accused was produced before the military court, he refused to support the prosecution version, and the police again tortured him although he was in judicial custody confined at a house in Shireen Jinnah Colony, where his family members were not allowed to see him.

The petitioner has said she being a poor woman of 95 years was not allowed to see her grandson and she sent complaints to various authorities, but without success.

The accused, for not supporting the police version, is being threatened that he would be implicated in other false cases to teach him a lesson and to take revenge and extort money. The apprehension is too great that he might be implicated in other false cases.

The respondents in the petition are the SP CIA Karachi, the DIG Crime Karachi and the home secretary Sindh.

The petition, filed by counsel Yousuf Iqbal, came up for preliminary hearing before a division bench of the High Court of Sindh, comprising Justice Rana Bhagwandas and Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, on Thursday, and it has been adjourned till April 14.