Daily Times

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Shahid Hameed Dar on Friday issued notice to the Punjab inspector general of prisons on a contempt of court petition for not releasing a prisoner, Adnan Khan, who was sentenced for attacking former president Gen (r) Pervaiz Musharraf and had completed his term of imprisonment.

The judge sought reply from the IG within two weeks. Saira Khan, mother of the convict, moved the contempt petition seeking contempt proceedings against the IG for not complying with a previous court order that required the jail authorities to recalculate the sentence of Adnan as well as the government amnesties/remissions awarded to him and fix his probable release date.

Petitioner counsel Mujahid Waseem said that in year 2003, Adnan was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for attacking Musharraf. He said that Adnan underwent 15-year jail term handed down by a military court but the authorities were not ready to release him. He said that the military court, while awarding punishment to the petitioner’s son, did not give him benefit in reduction of imprisonment under the section 382-B of Code of Criminal Procedures.

He pointed out that under this provision, the period an accused spent behind the bars as under trial prisoner should be included in the sentenced, adding that Adnan was arrested in 2003 and as per the provision, he had completed his sentence.

He submitted that a single bench of the LHC had dismissed the petition of the convict to this effect but a division bench later allowed his intra-court appeal directing the jail authorities to implement the reduction in imprisonment under the said provision. He submitted that the government challenged the decision before the Supreme Court but the appeal was dismissed.

Waseem claimed that now Adan was under illegal detention in jail, as he had already served his sentence. He said that the petitioner had already filed a petition seeking release of her son on which the court had issued directions to the jail authorities to recalculate the term of sentence but the IG never acted upon the directions.

He said that the IG (prisons) had committed contempt of court by ignoring the orders and deserved a strict action under the contempt of court law.