ISLAMABAD, Nov 11: The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, has ordered the registration of a case against seven people, including three policemen, for assisting a man in forcing his wife to vacate her own house.

Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha issued the order on a petition filed by Shazia Nadeem.

The petitioner stated that she owned a house at Gulshanabad, Adiala Road, and on December 31, 2002, when she came back to her house, her estranged husband, Nadeed Dar, along with six other people, including policemen Mirza Zaman Razaa and Imran Qasim, asked her to leave the house.

Justice Shakoor Paracha, after examining the whole record, observed that the additional sessions judge was duty-bound to see if the contents of the application by the petitioner made out a cognizable offence or not.

The court directed the Saddar Barooni Police Station SHO to register a case against all the culprits whether employees of the police or otherwise.

The court also directed the Rawalpindi SSP to entrust the investigation of the case to an officer not below the rank of DSP or ASP.

Justice Paracha observed that in a civilized society, no person could be allowed to take advantage of his public position for redressing his personal grievances, particularly the police, which was the custodian of the citizens’ rights.

The police, if allowed to trespass in houses or so to provide an assistance to the criminals or help them to take law in their own hands, there would be no rule of law, but anarchy in the society.

The court observed that under the law, Nadeem Dar was under legal obligation to wait for the verdict of the civil court on the suit which he had filed against the petitioner regarding the title of the house. “Taking law in his own hand with the help of his associates and police was unwarranted under the law.”

The court also directed the Saddar Barooni Police Station SHO to restore the possession of the house to the petitioner.