Privacy upheld: ‘Police cannot raid guest houses or hotels’

" Police raid guest houses only to extort bribes and to harass people. They must get permission from a sessions court before raiding a guest house," Judge Manzoor Ahmed Malik.

Judge Manzoor Ahmed Malik was hearing a petition seeking quashment of a case registered against All Pakistan Muslim League leader Ghulam Mohiyuddin and 36 men and women arrested from his guest house.

Civil Lines SP (Investigation) Capt (retd) Liaquat Ali Malik told the court that a police team had raided the petitioner’s guest house to arrest proclaimed offenders but failed. However, during the raid police had caught 17 men and 19 women engaged in ‘immoral’ activities.

Justice Malik rejected the argument, saying this was a typical police account.

The judge summoned DIG (Operations) Ghulam Mehmood Dogar and SSP (Investigation) Abdul Razzaq Cheema on short notice and deferred the proceedings till their arrival. After both officers appeared in the court, the hearing was resumed.

DIG Dogar requested the judge to hear him in the chamber instead of the open court. The judge turned down his request. Both the DIG and the SSP then failed to justify the guest house raids.

Justice Malik asked both officers, “Do you know that after the amendment in the Hudood Ordinance, the police have no jurisdiction to carry out raids to guest houses or hotels.” He observed, “Police raid guest houses only to extort bribes and to harass people.”

The police, he said, had no right to humiliate people on the pretext of arresting proclaimed offenders, the judge remarked and added that police were required to get permission from a sessions court before raiding a guest house or hotel.

He warned the police officers to be careful in the future in this regard and directed the petitioner to approach the trial court for redress of his grievance.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2^nd, 2012.