Compensation of Rs 1.80 lakh disbursed among Pak detenues

Amritsar, June 28 (UNI) Acting upon the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Punjab ADGP (prisons) H R Chadha today disbursed Rs 1.80 lakh in compensation to 16 Pakistani detenues at the Central Jail here.

On April 27, the High Court on a civil liberties petition ordered the release of 41 Pak detenues, who had been languishing in jails in the state even after the completion of their sentence. While a few of these detenues had been released and repatriated to Pakistan, the remaining would be sent back on June 30 through the Wagah border.

The Court has also directed the Centre and the Punjab government to pay compensation for every year spent by each detenue after the completion of his sentence. It had also decided that beginning the day of the ruling, the detenue should be paid a daily compensation of Rs 100 until his release.

On June 30, Pakistan will repatriate 240 Indian fishermen, while India is expected to send back 192 Pakistani fishermen and 118 other civil prisoners through the Wagah post.

Sixteen of the Pakistani-prisoners to be repatriated were lodged at the Central jail here, while the remaining were in jails of Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Rajasthan besides Punjab.

The prisoners at the local prison included the 19-year-old Shahezad of Faisalabad who accidentally strayed across the border somewhere in the Punjab sector. He was sentenced to a on- year imprisonment, but his release was delayed, as his clearance did not come from the Pakistani authorities.

Abdul Rashid, another detenue from Kasur, strayed into Indian territory in the Khem Karan sector two years back and was apprehended by the Border Security Force (BSF). Mohammed Sultan, who had legally come to India to visit Ajmer Sharif, lost his passport and other documents while returning home a few years back. He was apprehended at the Attari railway station and lodged at the jail here.

Mohammed Younis, another Pakistani, who will be going back home, came in search of his father who had come to India 15 years back and had not returned home. He was caught last year while trying to cross the barbed wire fence close to the Wagah post and sent to prison.

UNI XC-HS PK RS2006