Plea for remission in sentence: PHC seeks conviction record of Indian prisoner

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed superintendent of the Mardan Central Prison to submit a copy of the jail warrant of the Indian convicted prisoner who is seeking remission in sentence from the date of conviction.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Syed Afsar Shah also sought record about conviction to the Indian prisoner from the federal government.
Hamid Nihal Ansari, an Indian prisoner, filed a writ petition through his lawyer Qazi Muhammad Anwar. He sought an appropriate order of the court to issue direction to the Ministry of Defence to amend the jail warrant and substitute the word ‘’anti-state activities’ by illegal activities and directions to the jail authorities to allow the due remission to him from December 15, 2015 and work out his date of release after allowing remission.
A noted human rights activist, Rukhshanda Naz, also appeared in the case for the convicted Indian prisoner.
According to the prison record, his imprisonment of three years by the military court is being counted from December 15, 2015, the day of his conviction.
He was not given remission as the prison authorities stated the word “anti-state activities” was written in the column of charges on his jail warrant.
In the grounds to the writ petition, it was stated that the story which was established during the trial before the military court was that the petitioner had developed contact with a girl in Kohat on the facebook and she had invited him to Kohat in year 2012.
The petitioner claimed that he had come to Pakistan on the invitation of the girl from Kohat who was residing at the Kohat Development Authority (KDA). The parents of the girl informed the police, which conveyed the information to the security agencies. He was then arrested on November 14, 2012 from Palwasha Hotel in Kohat.
It was claimed that the petitioner was then tried by a military court, but no evidence was produced against him in respect of his involvement in “Anti-state activities’.
The petitioner said that he had not come to Pakistan for committing anti-state activities, but to meet a girl with whom he had developed friendship on facebook.
It was also claimed that the petitioner was neither an Indian agent nor had connection with any group working against Pakistan.
“The petitioner had committed a mistake in crossing the border without valid travel documents with fake identity card provided by persons who were his hosts in Karak. After announcement of three years rigorous imprisonment, he has the right to be treated in accordance with Prisons Rules in the matter of remission,” it was submitted in grounds to the petition before the court.
It was claimed that the word anti-state activities on the jail warrant of the petitioner was based on no evidence and, therefore, unjustified.
The ministries of defence and foreign affairs, in their joint comments, had stated that the petitioner was involved in espionage/anti-state activities and he was subject to the Pakistan Army Act, therefore, the jurisdiction of high court stood ousted in this case.