October 21, 2005	Friday	Ramzan 16, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an investigation team constituted by Inspector General of Police Punjab (IGP) to probe into the alleged abduction and rape of Sonia Naz and directed constitution of a new team comprising reputable senior and most experienced officers not below the rank of SP.

On Thursday, the IGP, Ziaul Hassan, told the apex court that the two key accused involved in abduction and rape of Sonia Naz namely SP Khalid Abdullah and Station House Officer (SHO) Jamshed Chishti had been arrested and were being investigated.

The bench directed the IGP to submit a challan of the arrested persons to the court in the next hearing on November 8.

The IGP submitted a complete list of 19 SPs to the court but the chief justice directed him to include senior and reputable officers into the team not below the rank of SP.

Led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the court was hearing a suo motu case on the reported abduction and rape of Sonia Naz, a housewife. Advocate Zulfikar Ahmed Bhutta had requested the court to take notice of the abuse.

Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan also contended that after the registration of FIR against the accused police officers, the legal course should have automatically come into operation in accordance with the provisions laid down in the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Advocate General Punjab Aftab Iqbal was also directed to submit a progress report to the court.

Representing the accused, Sardar Latif Khosa Advocate contended that the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were dictating the cause of justice that was unfortunate. He alleged that the husband of Sonia Naz was involved in the biggest vehicle scandal of the country but he was not being interrogated.

However, the CJ observed that the court would consider all the matters including the judicial inquiry report but first it wanted to complete investigations in the Sonia Naz case.

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