Case filed over escape of 14 prisoners from van bound for Adiala jail

RAWALPINDI: Police have registered a case against 14 prisoners who escaped from a police van while being taken to Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, with the first information report also naming five police officials over alleged negligence in connection with the incident.

The escape took place on Monday within the limits of Islamabad’s Sihala police station. Fresh details said the prisoners used red chilli powder against the escorting personnel before fleeing the vehicle. Four of the escapees were later arrested at the scene, while the case was lodged on Tuesday.

Details from the FIR

The complaint was filed by police driver Imtiaz Ahmed, who stated that the van had reached Chakian stop at around 4:45pm when the prisoners began fighting inside the vehicle and shouting. He said the police initially tried to calm them verbally, but the prisoners did not stop.

Imtiaz Ahmed said he and Constable Tahir Mehmood then unlocked the van and went inside to deal with the disturbance.

"To resolve the commotion, we started verbally telling them to stop, but they refused to listen. So I, with the help of Constable Tahir Mehmood, unlocked the van and entered it; however, the prisoners threw red chilli powder into our eyes and escaped from the van," he stated in his account recorded in the FIR.

The complainant added that the police officials, with great difficulty, pulled out their weapons and tried to pursue the fleeing prisoners. Rescue 15 was informed during the incident.

When a count was conducted, it was found that 14 prisoners had escaped. The Sihala station house officer, along with a police contingent, reached the site and managed to arrest four of them.

Charges and officials named

The escaped prisoners were booked under Sections 224, 353, 186, 34 and 120-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, covering resistance or obstruction to lawful apprehension, assault or criminal force against a public servant, obstruction in discharge of public functions, common intention and criminal conspiracy.

The five police officials nominated in the FIR are driver Imtiaz Ahmed, Head Constable Tahir Mehmood, Constable Muhharam Shahzad, Constable Shafqat Ahmed and Constable Nazeer Ahmed. They were charged under Section 223 of the Pakistan Penal Code, relating to escape from custody negligently allowed by a public servant, as well as Sections 155-C and 155-D of the Police Ordinance, 2002, concerning wilful breach or neglect of law and violation of duty.

Recent prison escape incidents

Earlier this month, police also booked two officials and two other individuals after an under-trial prisoner escaped from Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi.

Last year, more than 200 inmates escaped from District Prison Malir in Karachi. Following that jailbreak, which Sindh Law Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar described as one of the largest in the country, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah removed the provincial prisons chief and suspended the deputy inspector general of prisons and the prison superintendent.