01 November 2004	Monday	17 Ramazan 1425

GUJRAT, Oct 31: Complainants and accused in different FIRs lodged with Lalamusa city police station have no other option but to apply for change of investigation or re-investigation into the cases through courts due to alleged partiality and unfair practice by investigators.

Information gleaned by this correspondent revealed that five such cases had been reported only with Lalamusa city police station in the last 40 days, clearly indicating partiality.

A resident of the Eidgah Road told Dawn that his brother Sharif had been implicated by city police in a narcotics case. The investigator, SI Mian Riaz, challaned him in the case without listening to the accused party, he alleged. Later, they applied for change of investigation in the court of Kharian Additional District and Sessions Judge Maqarab Khan who changed the investigation when Lalamusa city police did not turn to court despite repeated summons.

He said the judge had directed the DPO to reinvestigate the case through the officer of his own choice at the district headquarters level. Now DSP Malik Tahir Mahmood is investigating.

Similarly, Chaudhry Fazal of Dhama village, a retired policeman, said police implicated four members of his family, including Farooq and Asjad, in a case on the complaint of one of his relatives. He alleged that investigator SI Mian Riaz not only misbehaved with the women, but challaned all the four after takingbribe from the complainant.

He alleged that SHO Muhammad Anwar also supported the investigator in the malpractice. He said he, along with a delegation of the area people, complained about the matter to DPO Raja Munawar Husain who after probe removed SI Mian Riaz from the city police station. Later, they moved the court of the Kharian additional district and sessions judge who directed the DPO to do re-investigation.

During re-investigation, DSP Malik Tahir Mahmood had absolved all the four accused of the charges levelled in the FIR, he said. As DPO Raja Munawar Hussain remained on official leave from Oct 1 to Oct 20, SI Mian Riaz got an opportunity in reporting himself at the Lalamusa city police station.

Haroon Asghar, a factory owner, told this correspondent that he got registered a case against 17 people on the charge of printing and misusing the label of his product.He said he handed over the principal accused, Iqbal, to the investigator SI Mian Riaz along with the recovery, but he did not mention his arrest in the record and later set him free. He alleged that the SI arrested five more nominated accused with the recovery and later set them free.

The investigator, he alleged, had been pressuring him to come to terms with the nominated accused. The complainant had now moved the court of Maqarab Khan with a request to change investigation of his case. The court has directed the city police to appear on Nov 3 with the relevant record.

In yet another example of police's apathy, accused Amjad Husain of Dhama village had applied for change of investigation in the same court pleading that the police had implicated him and four family members in a case on Oct 2 on the complaint of his rival Anwar. The investigation officer in the case is ASI Niaz Mekan.

Saifullah of Dhama village alleged that he got registered a case against six people on Oct 3, but ASI Niaz Mekan had sided with the accused and pressured him for a patch-up with the accused. He has now applied for change of investigation in the same court.

The affectees of Lalamusa city police station have demanded that the chief minister, Punjab IGP and the Gujranwala Range DIG take punitive action against the two investigators and transfer them at the earliest.

SI Mian Riaz and ASI Niaz Mekan, when contacted, denied the charges of showing partiality in the investigation. They claimed that they were investigating every case on merit.