October 20, 2006	Friday	Ramazan 26, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed its dismay at the slackness of Faisalabad police in probing heinous crimes by handing investigations over to the junior officers.

“It’s quite painful to note that a heinous crime, in which two persons have been killed and one injured in September last year, has still not been solved by the police,” a two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi observed while hearing a complaint of Dr Bushra Shaheen from Faisalabad on a suo motu notice.

In her application, Ms Shaheen had said that some robbers had broken into her house in Faisalabad in 2005 and killed her husband and son but they were still at large due to police inaction.

“Investigations are left to subordinate officers instead of being conducted by superior officers, who are actually responsible for bringing the culprits to the book,” the chief justice deplored.

The bench asked the IGP Punjab Ziaul Hassan to constitute a new team of police officers to investigate the matter afresh and also submit a complete report to the court by fixing responsibility on the officers, who had failed to perform their duty.

The chief justice directed the Advocate General Punjab Ch Aftab Iqbal to ensure a strict action against the delinquent police officers.

Superintendent Police Lyallpur Town, Faisalabad, Mehboob Aslam told the bench that he had been posted just four days back and had arrested a suspect, Asif Maseeh.

The AGP sought time for proper inquiry on the premise that since the IGP was busy due to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s visit to Lahore, the last orders of the court of fixing responsibility on delinquent officers could not be materialised.

At the outset, the chief justice asked the Additional Advocate General Punjab Azhar Hussain as to who was responsible for failing to unearth the crime and said perhaps the inspector general police had violated the court orders by not fixing the officers responsible for showing poor results.

“Apparently, I see there is some lapse in obeying your orders but assure you that

these would be complied with positively,” the AG assured the court.

The bench adjourned the case for October 30.