LAHORE - The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Punjab prisons department to remove chains of farmer leader Mehr Abdul Sattar imprisoned in a Sahiwal jail, and allow his family members and lawyers to meet him there.
A two-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, passed the order on a petition challenginig shifting of Sattar from Sahiwal Central jail to Sahiwal high security jail.
The CJP observed that the court would look into the case record and procedure that how an under trial prisoner was shifted to high security jail.
Rights activist Asma Jahangir represented Mehr Abdul Sattar and informed the bench about the cases lodged against her client and the general secretary of Punjab Anjuman Mozareen for demanding land rights at Okara Military Farms.
The counsel questioned that how the prisoner was shifted to high security jail from a normal jail without a mandatory judicial order. She alleged that inhuman treatment was being meted out to the farmer in the high security jail.
Asma argued that a prisoner cannot be shifted without following any judicial order. First Sattar was shifted to high security jail by the Punjab Home secretary and later the court was approached for the permission while such administrative order was against the prison rule, she maintained.
A law officer, however, told the bench that the farmer was shifted to high security jail due to security issues.
On it, the bench sought case record and observed that it would be determined that how the prisoner was shifted to high security prison.
The court adjourned further hearing till the next month. Moreover, the petitioner had approached the Lahore High Court for his post arrest bail but the matter was adjourned until Sept 29.
OUR STAFF REPORTER
