THIS is with reference to the report “Two more polio cases take year’s tally to 67” (Dec 27). The year is not over yet, mind you. With this in mind, it was shocking to go through the report ‘Court releases two men held for misbehaving with a polio worker in Nazimabad’ (Dec 19). According to the report, two men had misbehaved with the polio worker and had locked her up in their Nazimabad flat where she had gone to administer polio drops.

The police had filed a case against the two under sections 353, 186 and 34. The investigating officer had requested the magistrate to remand the suspects in police custody for 14 days for further investigation, including obtaining CCTV footage of the place of the incident, and to check records for any previous crimes by the accused.

However, the defence counsel requested the court to discharge the suspects under section 63 of the criminal procedure code. After hearing both sides, the court disc-

harged the suspects under section 63, against a personal bond of Rs50,000 each, with a note that section 353 was not applicable in the case.

Considering the gravity of the polio situation, I think the government should enact special legislation to ensure that the harassers and killers of polio workers get exemplary punishment.

The government should also realise that this problem cannot be tackled through fancy idea. Instead of wasting resources on fancy television advertisements for polio awareness, the government should take effective steps to get the results.

S.R.H. Hashmi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2024