PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday disposed of the petition of a teenage girl, who was allegedly paraded naked in her Dera Ismail Khan village last month, asking the police to submit a report of progress in the case to the court’s human rights cell on a fortnightly basis.

Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Syed Afsar Shah made that decision after advocate general Abdul Lateef Yousafzai submitted a written reply to the petition on behalf of the provincial police chief, saying the police have already provided security to the petitioner besides forming a joint investigation team to thoroughly look into the Oct 27 incident.

About the plea of the girl that a person, who had filmed the incident, should be nominated in the FIR and the video footage should be seized, the IGP said the petitioner named that suspect neither in the FIR nor in her statement recorded with the magistrate.

He added that the team had begun probing the suspect’s role and that his name could be included in the FIR in light of the investigation.

Disposes of teenager’s plea as her lawyer terms police action satisfactory

Qazi Mohammad Anwar, lawyer for the petitioner, expressed satisfaction with the police chief’s reply to the petition.

He later told reporters that his client’s was a constitutional petition and that her requests to the court had been taken care of by the police high-ups. He added that her client could move the court again if the need arose.

The petitioner had made multiple prayers in her petition seeking protection from the suspected culprits and inclusion of the name of the man, who filmed the Oct 27 incident, in the FIR. She had also sought the court’s orders for the IGP and DIG of the DI Khan range police to submit weekly report of the progress on investigation into the incident to ensure dispensation of justice to her.

She had also sought the court’s orders for the police to recover that video to prevent its misuse.

AIG (legal) of the Central Police Office Falak Nawaz also turned up along with the advocate general.

The bench directed him to ensure the production of the case progress report to the court’s human rights cell every fortnight.

The IGP in his reply said eight of the nine accused persons had already been arrested, while the police’s special teams had been conducting raids in different areas, including Karachi, to arrest the absconder, Sajawal.

He said two FIRs had been registered against some people suspected of facilitating the fleeing of Sajawal.

The IGP said a head constable and three constables under the supervision of inspector Noorzali Khan had been tasked with providing security to the petitioner.

He denied the petitioner’s accusation against the local police of supporting the accused and insisted that the police had been treating the complainant in accordance with the law.

“The focus of the police is to ensure fair, transparent and impartial investigation. The delinquent police officers or any civil servant involved in the case will be proceeded against,” he said.

The petitioner had claimed that around two years ago, the accused had blamed her brother for handing over a cellphone to a female member of their family and despite his denial on oath, the panchayat (jirga) had ordered her brother to pay a fine of Rs300,000 to them.

She said despite the decision of the panchayat, the accused led by Sajawal had paraded her naked in the village.

The girl said initially, the local police didn’t cooperate with her family members and even refused to register FIR but did it only after the local people protested.

She said before registering FIR of the incident, the local police had booked her brother and uncle in a concocted case to pressure the family not to pursue the present case.

In the petition, the girl alleged that the local police supported suspects by twisting facts in the FIR.

Even in her statement before the magistrate, she had stated that the local police had threatened her that action would be taken against her brother in the said concocted case in case she did not support the police version of the occurrence.

In the initial FIR, the police had only mentioned that the girl was taken inside a residence and beaten and was not paraded in the streets.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2017