THE Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Tuesday said it is investigating the legality of the arrest and detention of a teenager as an alleged co-conspirator in the kidnapping-for-ransom of an eight-year-old girl early this month.

At a surprise ocular visit at the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) in Camp Crame in Quezon City, CHR chairperson Leila de Lima told reporters that the family and the legal counsel of the teenaged college student have lodged a complaint.

"The victim has not yet surfaced, that is why I have deliberately not mentioned other details. What we are up to is to determine if there had been any violations of the rights of detained persons," she explained.

De Lima said the student was detained and interrogated within PACER premises last August 8 without any arrest warrant and without the benefit of a legal counsel.

She said PACER officials told her that the case was too sensitive and specifically requested that details not be divulged by the commission in the meantime so as not to jeopardize police operation.

"We would like to look into the validity of the detention, while the PACER officials claimed that it was only part of their ‘hot pursuit’ operations," the CHR chair explained.