LAHORE: A former station house officer of the Gujjarpura police station has filed an application seeking registration of a case against Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Sheikh.

In his application filed with Civil Lines police station, former inspector Syed Ahmad Raza Jafri alleged that the CCPO had abused him, ordered his staff to torture him and got a fake case lodged against him.

This was said to be the first instance wherein an inspector had sought a criminal case against the CCPO.

He alleged that the CCPO had called him to his office following an inquiry against him and harassed him. He declared this act illegal and against the rules, saying the CCPO had hurled death threats at him.

The CCPO denied all the allegations, saying the applicant had been held guilty of establishing an illegal torture cell and was sacked following departmental action. He said that last year, a citizen had died of severe torture while in illegal custody and a case had been lodged against Jafri and other policemen.

CCPO Sheikh said that being the competent authority, he reserved the right to take action against his subordinate officials over any illegal act. He said the Punjab Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules 1975 provided the competent authority the power to enhance punishment given to an official under his command.

The CCPO said Jafri was awarded minor punishment against the scale of his crime. Being the competent authority, he has now enhanced the punishment by directing the police station concerned to lodge a new case against Jafri for murdering a citizen in illegal custody at an unauthorised torture cell. The FIR was later registered.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2020