ISLAMABAD: Deputy Commissioner (DC) Irfan Nawaz Memon, SSP (operations) Malik Jameel Zafar and a station house officer (SHO) Margalla will continue discharging their official duties till a final decision on intra-court appeals against their conviction, spokespersons for the capital administration and police said.

The office of the chief commissioner has decided to challenge the judgement of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in which the DC was sentenced to six months imprisonment for disobeying court orders. The spokesman said the DC had used his legitimate powers as per the law to maintain public order.

“DC Memon will remain in his post till intra-court appeal is decided by the court. The decision to pursue intra-court appeal reflects a commitment to ensure due process and uphold the rights of all parties involved,” the spokesperson said.

The office of the chief commissioner will continue to cooperate with the legal process and remain steadfast in the pursuit of justice and adherence to the principles of good governance, he added. A public relations officer for the police said the officers will file an intra-court appeal against the verdict. The SSP operations was sentenced to four and the SHO to two months’ imprisonment. He also said the police officers had exercised their legitimate powers to maintain public order.

Meanwhile, the deputy commissioner filed an intra-court appeal against the single bench sentence.

The appeal stated that in May 2023, the DC received information from the SSP (operations) on the basis of which a detention order under section 3(i) of the MPO was issued by him to prevent breach of peace/unlawful assembly in the district. The detention was impugned before the IHC in a writ petition.

On June 2, 2023, the single judge of the high court declared the detention order unlawful. Thereafter, multiple detention orders were passed by the district administration of Rawalpindi. However, the appellant had nothing to do with that.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2024