KARACHI: A judicial magistrate has decided to initiate criminal proceedings against a police officer after she allegedly submitted “forged” medical documents in court.

Judicial Magistrate (South) Sajjad Ali Jamal ordered filing of a “direct complaint” against ASP Nida Junaid under Sections 198 (using as true a certificate known to be false) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) after she failed to satisfy the court regarding submission of the “forged” medical documents regarding her health.

ASP Nida was appointed as the investigating officer in a bogus cheque case registered at the Darakhshan police station in 2025.

Last month, the court issued a show-cause notice under section 174 (Non-attendance in obedience to an order from public servant) of the PPC. In response, she informed the court that she had been admitted to a hospital and submitted two medical documents reportedly issued by a hospital, recommending her bed rest for two days.

However, the court observed discrepancies in the signatures of the issuing authority on both the documents and referred them to the hospital for verification.

In its reply, the hospital stated that the “medical/ER and OPD prescription receipts dated 18-03-2026 are not genuine and have not been issued by the hospital,”.

It added that no record of any visit, consultation, treatment or issuance of any prescription, receipt or medical certificate existed in the name of ASP Nida Junaid.

The court issued another show-cause notice to the ASP on April 7.

In her reply, she argued that the medical documents had been submitted “in good faith without any knowledge or reason to believe the same could be unauthentic or not verifiable from the hospital record”.

She stated that any inadvertent error was unintentional and without mala fide intent, and requested the court to take a lenient view.

However, the court observed that the act constituted misconduct, which could be proceeded against in accordance with the law, while departmental action fell within the domain of the police.

The magistrate observed that her reply to the show-cause notices was not satisfactory and ruled that any person who committed any illegal act “specifically the offence against the public justice system” should be deal strictly in accordance with law.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2026