PESHAWAR, Nov 6: A judicial magistrate on Thursday directed the chief capital city police and the SSP (Investigation) to take action against an SHO (investigation) for extending favours to some accused persons in a case.

The magistrate, Syed Asghar Ali Shah, directed the CCCP and SSP to take notice of the conduct of the SHO (Investigation) Bhana Mari, and take appropriate action against him.

The SHO concerned had not registered an FIR against three persons, accused of severely beating another person and also snatching money from him. The SHO had instead arrested the three persons under section 107 and 151 of Criminal Procedure Code instead of properly registering an FIR under the relevant provisions of the PPC.

A complaint was lodged against the three arrested persons, Taj Muhammad and his sons Faiz Muhammad and Sajjad, by Abdul Hakeem, stating that they had forcibly snatched from him cash totalling Rs22,000, and had also beaten him resulting in severe injuries to him.

The police recorded his complaint in the daily diary and did not register a proper case against the accused. The medical report on file also showed that he was injured. However, the police arrested them under section 107 and 151 of CrPC only dealing with protective detention.

When the police approached the additional public prosecutor for opinion, he returned the complaint to the SHO with the direction to register a case against the accused keeping in view the allegations of the complainant.

On Thursday, the police produced the accused before the court without following the legal opinion of the prosecution. The court observed that this showed clear mala fide of the police as legally the SHO (investigation) had no right to follow his own perception and not to follow the law governing criminal cases.

The court directed the SHO to go by the law and follow the opinion of the prosecution for a proper action against the accused.