0
ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: The Supreme Court on Monday took to task the Rawalpindi police over its lax attitude in dealing with a victim, who was kidnapped and raped, yet the Kahuta police lend a hand in arriving at a settlement that eventually helped in the release of the culprits.
On a suo motu, a two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and Justice Ijazul Hassan took up the case relating to the gang rape of a girl from Kahuta, but the local police pressurised her parents to come to terms with the alleged culprits – Sajjad, Amjad and Aqiq.
“You do not understand the repercussions of such heinous crimes in the society, as these encourages anti-state elements,” the chief justice asked Rawalpindi’s City Police Officer (CPO) DIG Rao Mohammad Iqbal, who appeared before the court in compliance with its earlier directions.
The DIG was ordered to submit a comprehensive report by Thursday, arrest all the offenders and take disciplinary action against the delinquent Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Haseeb Hussain Shah, who allegedly played a role in arriving at the settlement.
The DIG told the bench that the girl was kidnapped on November 6 by three boys, who were also related to the girl, and kept her at their home for 10 days blind folded and gagged. She was also subjected to violence and was raped repeatedly, the DIG informed.
However, the girl managed to escape on November 16 and informed her father about the ordeal she had to undergo during the captivity.
On the complaint of her father, the Kahuta police registered an FIR under Section 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) and 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
Medical check-up of the victim was arranged same day and two of the culprits were arrested after the receipt of the report which confirmed commission of the rape. Reports on some chemical examinations are still awaited.
On the intervention of some local elders, a Punchayat (elders’ council) was held on the very next day on the premises of the police station and the culprits were released especially after the father was told that despite in captivation the girl received no injury or there was no sign of any bruises in her body, or sign of any resistance, not even her clothes were torn.
However, the chief justice was unable to understand as to why the culprits were released when the offences under which the culprits were booked were non-bailable.“This shows the connivance of the DSP in the crime,” the chief justice observed, asking what the duty of a police officer was?
“Police officer should be impartial always and is not supposed to violate the law,” the chief justice said, adding that when the offence was registered under the Hudood ordinance, how could these culprits be released.
The investigating officer also told the court that the father of the girl had not registered any complaint during the period when the girl was missing.
The senior police officers are again required to appear before the court on December 4.
Doctors thrashing case
The city police here on Monday submitted its report to the Supreme Court (SC) on the doctors thrashing case, sources told Dawn.
They said the apex court directed the police to submit the investigation report of the incident to it on the last date of hearing on November 25.
According to the report the police informed the court that the family members of the deputy secretary of the National Assembly, nominated in the FIR, had obtained interim bail from the court, and they could only be arrested if the court cancelled it.
The report said the police had finished investigations and had interrogated both parties.
The sources said efforts were underway to settle the issue outside the court. There is a possibility that the dispute will end on a compromise on Monday night or Tuesday.
During the last hearing the court afforded an opportunity to the parties deep in squabbling over doctors’ thrashing dispute by asking them either to settle it outside the court or face the law, before adjourning the matter for a week with an observation that dragging womenfolk in the court looked odd.
On a suo motu notice, a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf and Justice Mohammad Farrukh Mahmud had summoned the senior National Assembly officer, his family members and two doctors of the Federal Government Services Hospital (FGSH) involved in the doctor’s assault controversy on November 1.
