ISLAMABAD: A handcuffed under-trial prisoner escaped police custody at district courts on Monday.

A prisoner, who was arrested for possession of 200 grams of hashish in F-7/1, escaped from the district and sessions court where he was brought by the police for judicial remand, police said.

The constable who brought him to court has been arrested, and a case registered against him.

A police officer blamed the prisoner’s escape on his handcuffs. He said the police used to use outdated handcuffs that were easy to open, but had a chain attached to them that allowed police personnel to hold on to the prisoner. The new handcuffs, which lack a chain, he claimed, gave prisoners a chance to escape.

Police said the man was in the custody of the constable who took him to court for the judicial remand. The constable produced him before the magistrate, who sent him to jail on judicial remand, police said. They said that the constable was taking the prisoner to the bakshi khana (judicial lock-up) when the prisoner, finding that the constable’s attention was diverted, ran away.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2019