Lahore [Pakistan]: At least 12 undertrial prisoners escaped from police custody following clashes between two groups while being produced before a local court in Lahore on Monday, reported Dawn.
The incident took place when 166 prisoners from two jails arrested in various cases were brought to the district courts in Lahore’s Model Town for hearings, the report said. However, Police claimed that two out of the 12 prisoners who fled had been arrested, and efforts were being made to nab the others.
Lahore SSP (Operations) Mustansar Feroze said the prisoners were being kept in the “bakhshi khana” — the lock-up for under-trial prisoners — of the court when a clash broke out between two groups.
According to Dawn, CCTV footage showed prisoners throwing bricks and furniture from inside the lock-up and some of them climbing over the chairs to flee as police personnel watched helplessly. Even a policeman was hit in the face with a stone.
Lahore Police had started an “internal inquiry” in order to take disciplinary action against the police officials for “negligence”, Dawn reported.
