RAWALPINDI, Oct 16: Public complaints against police highhandedness and apathy are on the rise, with legal experts describing police incompetence as the main cause while others seeing the increase as a result of greater awareness among the people of their rights and legal options.

The district and sessions judge Rawalpindi received some 102 petitions under section 22-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in August against the non-cooperation of police in registration of First Information Reports (FIRs) and the highhandedness of the department’s officials.

The number of complaints went up to 137 in September, speaking volumes about the behaviour of law enforcers.

The experts on legal proceedings have difference of opinion on the reasons behind complaints that seek court intervention for registration of a criminal case.

A lawyer practising criminal law for more than 15 years said most of the grievances against the police were genuine, whereas a legal officer of the police department said it was not the people but the lawyers who urged them to proceed against the police.

Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, a Supreme Court lawyer, told Dawn that relevant provision of the CrPC remained redundant as late as 2002 and prior to that the powers of hearing complaints against police lay only with the high court judges, who acted as justice of peace.

It was in 2002 that a single bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Lahore Bench gave a decision that 22-A petition would be heard by district and sessions judges. This order was further validated by the verdict of a full bench of the LHC in 2005 and it was included in All Pakistan Legal Decisions (PLD) 2005.

After the executive power was delegated to additional district and sessions judges, the complaints against police witnessed a surge. In most of the cases the aggrieved party asks for registration of a criminal case against the police officials either for their highhandedness or for their haughtiness.

In other cases the complainants are weak, as police take side with stronger party and try to hush up the matter.

The lawyer acknowledged that all complaints were not genuine, but said once the matter was before the justice of peace the reality was fished out for the satisfaction of both sides.

With the involvement of a judge the police get vigilant and take all legal precautions while dealing with the litigant.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Legal Ameer Khan Aura has his own viewpoint on the increasing public complaints. He said in majority of the cases, false accusations were levelled and the legal practitioner do so to make the case of their clients strong. Though the grievances of the victim are often genuine, addition of frivolous arguments mars the cases.