Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Thursday directed police to arrest the culprits involved in the murder of two young brothers in Sialkot and appointed a former LHC judge, Kazim Malik, to hold a detailed inquiry into the gruesome incident.
During the course of hearing of the suo motu case, the CJP admonished DPO Sialkot Waqar Chohan and directed PPO Punjab Tahir Salim Dogor to take action against the police officials and present a report to both Registrar of the SC and the Lahore High Court on a daily basis.
The court also ordered strict action against investigation officer SP Muhammad Afzal and DPO Sialkot Waqar Chohan for negligence of their professional obligations as required by law.
The SC bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was hearing the case of brutal murder of two innocent brothers Hafiz Mugheez Sajjad and Muneeb Sajjad. They were mercilessly beaten to death by villagers in front of area police and a mass gathering in Sialkot on Thursday (August 19).
The CJP observed that no one would be allowed to take the law into his own hands, adding that it was the responsibility of the police to stop the torturers. “No one present at the site took the moral initiative to stop them except two private TV channels,” the CJP observed, while admonishing the DPO for his professional negligence.
Establishment Secretary Ismaeel Qureshi, SP Investigation Muhammad Afzal, DPO Sialkot Waqar Chohan and others appeared before the court after being put on notice.
The video of alleged torture on the two brothers was shown during the proceedings.
“It does not happen in a civilised society. The responsible police officials should have been behind bars,” the judge remarked, while asking the DPO as to why not a single culprit has been nabbed till now.
“You are responsible for the killings and you should have been behind bars,” the CJP warned DPO Waqar Chohan.
The DPO, however, informed the court that the police have been conducting raids to arrest the culprits while SHO Saddar Rana Muhammad Ilyas has already been taken into custody. He informed the bench that he was not present at the time of the incident. The hearing was adjourned till September 1.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 21st, 2010.
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