PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has ordered the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa inspector general of police (IGP) to suspend a Peshawar station house officer (SHO) and hold an inquiry into the allegation of illegally detaining a citizen for two weeks and handing him over to the Punjab police.

A bench consisting of Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Shahid Khan directed the IGP to inform the court’s additional registrar (judicial) about the action taken by him on the matter within a fortnight.

It issued the order while disposing of a habeas corpus petition filed by detainee Sohail Khan’s father, Badam Khan, a resident of Badhaber area here, observing that it was clear that the man was in the custody of Punjab police in a criminal case registered in Gujranwala district.

The bench directed the IGP to conduct the inquiry through an honest and impartial police officer for “digging out the actual facts and deal with the delinquent SHO under the law.”

Asks IGP to hold inquiry, submit report in 15 days

It observed that the police while conducting inquiry against the SHO of the Badhaber police station should adhere to the Government Servants (Efficiency and Disciplinary) Rules, 2011, whose Section 6 provided that the official under inquiry should be suspended for enabling the inquiry officer to render his fair and impartial report.

Advocate Safdar Iqbal Khattak appeared for the petitioner and said Sohail Khan was arrested by SHO of the Badhaber police station Ijaz Nabi on Aug 15 in presence of other villagers.

He said the petitioner along with some local elders approached the SHO to know about the whereabouts of his son but the SHO expressed complete ignorance about it leading to the filing of the petition.

The SHO appeared before the bench on Aug 30 and was ordered to produce the detainee the next day. The SHO turned up on Aug 31 but sought more time to follow the order. The court adjourned the hearing until Sept 1.

On the next hearing, the SHO along with the DSP (legal) Mohammad Asif appeared before the bench and produced a report declaring that neither the SHO of the Badhaber police station nor officials of other police stations had arrested the petitioner’s son.

The report declared that the detainee was wanted by the police in two criminal cases registered at the same police station on Aug 5, 2022, and Aug 8, 2022.

The petitioner’s counsel said as per information of the petitioner, the detainee was in illegal custody of the SHO from Aug 15 to Aug 31 at 4pm, where after he was shifted to Punjab and was implicated in a narcotics case registered at a police station in Gujranwala on Sept 1.

The bench observed that the SHO’s Aug 30 and 31 statements that he would produce the detainee coupled with registration of a narcotics case against the detainee on Sept 1 in Punjab required through probe.

It added that the police were responsible for maintaining public order and safety of people with a mandate to prevent crime in the community.

“The police officials of this province have achieved the title and position of exemplary police by securing the positive image of public in the society, however, the unwarranted or excessive and often illegal use of force by an individual police officer against civilians will not only being a bad name to the police department, but also cause damage to the fabric of entire justice sector,” it observed.

The court declared that the role of the SHO in the case showed his highhandedness through illegal confinement of a person despite the fact that he was allegedly charged in two different cases of same police station.

It added that it, without dilating on the conduct and attitude of the SHO towards public and court, wanted the IGP to probe the matter by an honest and impartial officer.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2022