July 9, 2002	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 27,1423

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FAISALABAD, July 8: The local police have reportedly sought legal opinion from the Law Department as to how to proceed in the case of stoning of a villager near Chak Jhumra as none of the relatives of the deceased or eyewitnesses is ready to join the investigation and make formal complaint.

A senior police officer told Dawn here on Monday that the Law Department, in its preliminary opinion, said that in the absence of a complainant or eyewitness for criminal case, the police could register a case.

The Law Department, according to him, said there was no bar on the registration of a case against the accused involved in the stoning of Zahid Shah. “The report entered into the Roznamcha under section 174 of CrPC can be converted into a formal first information report (FIR) as envisaged in Section 154 of the CrPC,” it said

The Chak Jhumra police, in its initial report, had described the incident as accidental in the absence of a complainant.

Meanwhile, a special police team has reportedly identified three more persons responsible for taking law into their hands and killing Zahid just after the issuance of a decree (fatwa) by village Pesh Imam Maulvi Faqir Ahmad. The number of ‘trouble-makers’ is now stated to be eight. More than 150 people had reportedly attacked Zahid.

Over three dozen youth of Chak 103 JB, situated in the jurisdiction of Chak Jhumra town, were investigated by a police team during its round of the area. They were asked questions about personal relations between Maulvi Faqir Ahmed and the deceased Zahid, the time at which the decree was announced from the mosque and the persons who carried out the stoning.