ISLAMABAD, Dec 19: Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman on Wednesday directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad to initiate action against the police officer who, despite court orders, was reluctant to register criminal case against property tycoon Malik Riaz.

He was hearing a contempt of court petition seeking registration of criminal case against the property tycoon and his son Ali Riaz.

On Tuesday, the IHC chief justice gave the IGP, who was summoned to the court, an hour’s deadline to register FIR against Malik Riaz, his son Ali Riaz and Dr Hafeez, owner of a private firm, on charges of grabbing 100 kanal land of Zahid Hussain Raja in Phulgran, a scenic suburb of the federal capital.

The IGP, however, did not come back with the FIR but a junior police officer submitted a copy of the FIR in the office of deputy attorney general after the rising of the court on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, IGP Bani Amin Khan appeared before the court and submitted a copy of the FIR before the judge, which was rejected by the judge saying the FIR was not registered in accordance with the complaint of the petitioner.

He said: “When the contents of the FIR were perused, it came to light that it was not registered in accordance with the complaint for which the application under section 22-A (for registration of FIR) was moved.”

The chief justice remarked that police being a law enforcement agency were bound to act in accordance with the court’s directions.

The CJ said the courts never wished to summon senior officers adding that courts summoned officials when there was no alternative available to them.

“The court would send the officers to jail if they would fail to implement the orders.”

IHC CJ Rehman again gave two hours deadline to IGP for registering the FIR in accordance with the complaint registered with the Bhara Kahu SHO.

This time, he registered the FIR within the given timeframe.

Contrary to the earlier FIR in which name of Malik Riaz was mentioned with a wrong parentage and the name of his son was also missing, the new FIR clearly mentioned the property tycoon name and also included the name of his son Ali Riaz.

In addition to the sections of criminal procedure code (CrPC) related to land grabbing, the police also inserted section 109 of CrPC in the FIR which is related to abetment in the crime.

Raja Rizwan Abbasi, counsel for the petitioner, Zahid Hussain Raja, however, contended that the police had still not included the proper sections of CrPC in the FIR.

The CJ also observed that the “conduct and attitude of Bhara Kahu SHO Mubarak Shah was not up to the mark” as he was reluctant to comply with the court orders.

The CJ directed the IGP for taking disciplinary actions against the SHO for flouting the court orders.

Advocate Abbasi told Dawn that the police was still trying to save the property tycoon as they deliberately did not insert section 324 in the FIR which was non-bailable.

According to him, Malik Riaz and his other accomplices attempted to kill the petitioner and his relatives when they (Malik Riaz and Ali Riaz) entered into his land on April 19, 2012 and forcibly took some 100 kanals of his land, a crime which attracts Section 324 of CrPC.

He said the police included those sections of the CrPC which were bailable and registered a weak FIR and it is very easy now for the accused persons to get rid of this case.

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