July 07, 2006	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 10, 1427

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LAHORE, July 6: A Supreme Court full bench has directed the Punjab police chief to bound all district police officers to complete investigation of cases registered since 2000 and submit challans to trial courts.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tasadduq Husain Jilani and Justice Karamat Nazir Bhindari, asked IGP Ziaul Hassan to issue a circular in this regard.

Additional advocate-general Khadim Husain Qaisar submitted that the IGP had already issued such instructions.

The bench passed this order on Thursday on a letter from some women who brought to the notice of the chief justice the murder of Amina Bibi and called for judicial action. The chief justice directed the Sialkot district and sessions judge to hold an inquiry after he reported that the letter contained factual information.

The CJ observed in the presence of the IGP, who had been summoned in a few cases, that incompetent and negligent police officers, including DPOs and SPs, should be removed from service as it would do good for citizens and society at large.

The CJ also reprimanded Sialkot DPO Tariq Khokhar and asked the IGP to sack him, as he was not aware as to what was happening in his jurisdiction.

The letter to the chief justice stated that Amina was thrown down from the roof by his paternal uncle Naseer and nephew Chand on the night of April 21, 2002, but the police had not registered any case so far.

DPO Tariq Khokhar, however, told the court that the police had registered a case. When the contradiction in the DPO’s statement surfaced, the chief justice reprimanded him and remarked that he was not eligible to be a police officer and that he should be sacked.

In another case, the chief justice took serious view of the police negligence in arresting the killers of a destitute woman in two and-a-half years, observing that the police had miserably failed to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens and the responsibility of dereliction of duty laid primarily on DPOs.

The CJP made the observation when the IGP deposed before the apex court that the department had transferred 10 DPOs who were found responsible for delaying investigation and non-registration of cases.

The court made a particular mention of the letter which Mumtaz Begum had sent from Sialkot, alleging that her 14-year old son Saeed Ahmad was killed by Shahzad who first extracted his kidneys and then cut her son into pieces. But the police had not registered a case despite a lapse of 30 months.

The chief justice turned the letter into a petition and summoned the IGP for Wednesday (today). When DPO Aslam Tareen deposed that the police had registered a case, the court snubbed him for the inordinate delay and asked the IGP, specially summoned in the case, if he was satisfied with the way his department was working.

During the hearing of the case, Justice Bhindari observed that the whole system was out of order and the police were more responsible for the situation because their acts were often criminal. The chief justice also observed if the sessions’ judges and DPOs mended their ways the crime rate could be reduced.

In yet another case, the chief justice issued a final warning to the Sialkot DPO to recover Bashir Khan within three days. He made it clear that in case the detenu was not recovered, he (DPO) would be sacked. The DPO appeared before court to submit that he made all his efforts to recover the detenu but to no avail.

The DPO alleged that his inquiry held Maimona Bashir, the wife of the detenu who also wrote to the CJP about her husband’s abduction, responsible for the crime in connivance with her brother-in-law who tortured Bashir. The court asked the DPO to tender resignation or court would retire him from the police service. However, the DPO sought some more time to recover the detenu.

The bench passed these orders while exercising its suo moto powers on the letter of Maimona Bashir who alleged that her husband was abducted by Mian Maqsood, Atiq and Anwar for which the police registered a criminal case. She alleged that the DPO was bribed for the release of the accused.

She also stated that the Gujranwala DIG had conducted an inquiry and recommended that DSP Maqsood and sub-inspectors Ghulam Sarwar and Munawar Khan should be proceeded against but DPO Tariq Khokhar refused to initiate proceedings against them.