Through the instant petition the petitioner has approached this Court for the recovery of Farooq Azam and Muhammad Usman Nisar, the detenues, from the illegal confinement of Respondent No, 1 Madina Sugar Mills, Chiniot.
2. A Bailiff of this Court was deputed on 9.1.2008 to recover the detenues from the custody of the said respondent and to produce them before this Court on 10.1.2008. On the said date of hearing the Bailiff submitted a detailed report which reads as follows:-- "For the execution of order of the august Court dated 09.01.2008, passed in the above noted case, I, accompanied by the petitioner, reached the Police Station Saddar, Chiniot District Jhang at 6:30 p.m. on the same day. After getting Police aid, I reached the office (situated outside the main gate of Madina Sugar Mills) of Respondent No, 1 namely Sardar Liaqat, General Manager (Cane). The respondent was not available but a Security Guard namely Ghulam Murtaza was present there.
After introduction, I searched the said office but the alleged detenues namely Farooq Azam and Muhammad Usman Nasir (S.I. Traffic Warden) were not available. After a while, Rana Muhammad Hayat Qamar, Admn. Officer, arrived there and started treating rudely and insolently and he did not allow me to search the factory. I contacted the Respondent No, 1 on telephone who assured me to reach within one hour but after two hours, he did not come there. A person namely Taj Muhammad, Director Mill, reached there and said that the alleged detenues were not available with them. He also added that the alleged detenues had run away committing a fraud with them.
2. It is respectfully submitted that Rana Muhammad Hayat Qamar, Admn. Officer, said to the petitioner separately that he had committed a mistake filing a case in this Hon'ble Court. Hence, he should have come there for a compromise with them without approaching this Hon'ble Court. The informer of the petitioner telephonically informed that the alleged detenues were present in the factory and they were in the detention of Sardar Liaqat Ali.
4. None of the administrative officers of the factory received the notice issued by this Hon'ble Court.
So I flung the same inside the factory.
5. The aforesaid officers of the factory did not permit me to enter the factory and search the alleged detenues. So they could not be recovered and produced before the Hon'ble Court.
However, it seemed to me that the alleged detenues were in the detention of the Respondent No, 1.
6. Report is submitted for kind perusal and orders."
3. In view of the report submitted by the Bailiff, the D.I.G., Faisalabad Range, was directed to cause production of the detenues from the custody of Respondent No, 1 as well as to ensure appearance of Rana Muhammad Hayat Qamar, Admn. Officer and Sardar Liaqat, General ' Manager (Cane) of the Mills before this Court for today.
4. Pursuant to the aforesaid order, S.H.O. Police Station Saddar, Chiniot entered appearance alongwith Farooq Azam detenue in handcuffs. The Police Officer states that he had arrested Farooq Azam as well as Muhammad Usma n Nasir, the detenues, on 9.1.2008 pursuant to case F.I.R No, 8/2008 dated 9.1.2008 for offence under Sections 420/408 P.P.C. Further states that Farooq Azam detenue was on physical remand granted by the learned Magistrate whereas Muhammad Usman Nasir detenue had been committed to judicial lock up on 10.1.2008. Sardar Liaqat, General Manager.
(Cane) as well as Rana Muhammad Hayat Qamar, Admn. Officer of the Mills are also present in the Court who state that Farooq Azam detenue had embezzled certain amounts from the Mills whereupon aforesaid F.I.R was lodged and that both the detenues had been arrested by the Police pursuant thereto. The detenue, on query, states that he and Muhammad Usman Nasir were taken into custody by Sardar Liaqat, Rana Muhammad Hayat Qamar and some other persons on 6.1.2008 and were illegally confined in the Mill premises. The Bailiff, on query, states that he approached the Police of Police Station Saddar, Chiniot at about 7:15 p.m. for assistance and at that time it was not revealed to him that any F.I.R had been registered against the detenues. He further stated that even on his visit to the Mill premises, no such information was provided to him by the staff of the Mill. The S.H.O. when asked as to when the F.I.R was registered, states that the same was lodged on 9.1.2008 at 10:05 p.m. From the foregoing it is evident that at the time when the raid was conducted by the Bailiff, the F.I.R in question had not been registered and had subsequently been lodged by the management of the Mills for ulterior motives.
5. The report submitted by the Bailiff is self explanatory and dilates upon the conduct of Sardar Liaqat, General Manager (Cane) as well as Rana Muhammad Hayat Qamar, Admn. Officer, who not only failed to cooperate with the Bailiff but in fact displayed insolent conduct while causing obstruction in his attempt to carry out search of the factory premises in order to recover the detenues as ordered by this Court. The attitude and behavior of the said two persons leads to an inescapable conclusion that the detenues were confined in the Mill -i, premises at the time the raid was conducted by the Bailiff and that the F.I.R had been lodged by the Mill management subsequent to the raid in order to cover up its illegal acts. Consequently, the S.H.O., Police Station Saddar Chiniot is directed to forthwith register a criminal case under the relevant provisions of law against the said two persons as well as any other person found to be involved in the crime. He shall furnish a copy of the F.I.R within 24 hours to this Court through the Deputy Registrar (Judicial).
6. Since the detenues were kept in illegal confinement by the Mill authorities, therefore, in all fairness, both the detenues namely Farooq Azam and Muhammad Usman Nasir are allowed provisional post arrest bail in case F.I.R No, 8/2008, dated 9.1.2008 for offence under Sections 420/408 P.P.C. registered at Police Station Saddar Chiniot, till 21st of January, 2008 subject to their furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs, 50,000/- each, with one surety each in the like amount, to the satisfaction of the Deputy Registrar (Judicial) of this Court. Farooq Azam detenue who has been produced in the Court shall be kept in Police custody at Old Anarkali Police Station and shall be released after submission of bail bond. This concession is being extended to the detenues in order to enable them to approach the concerned Court for their bail.
7. This petition is disposed of in the above terms. The security deposited by the petitioner may be refunded.
8. The conduct of Rana Muhammad Hayat Qamar, Admn. Officer and Sardar Liaqat, General Manager (Cane) in the entire incident is contumacious, amounts to an affront to the authority of this Court and is prima facie tantamount to committing Contempt of Court. Show cause notice was issued to the said respondents in the said regard on 10.1.2008 to which they may submit a reply within 10 days.
9. Office is directed to set up a separate file of the contempt matter which shall be posted for further proceedings before this Court on 21.1.2008. The learned Assistant Advocate General shall render assistance on the said date of hearing.