SHC wants police chief to appear in person today. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, the division bench ordered the senior police officer to appear on Tuesday along with a report on efforts to recover 65-year-old Faraz Khan, who is missing for the last two years.
The two judges passed the direction after the DIG failed to appear to inform them of recovery efforts. Khan's son, Naseebullah Khan, said his father had left home on May 19, 2014 but did not return, after which the matter was reported to the Sohrab Goth police.
A month after the police failed to recover his father, Naseebullah filed a disappearance case with the high court, seeking directions for the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital's medical superintendent (MS) and Rangers director-general to establish his whereabouts.
Meanwhile, Naseebullah claimed that he came to know that his father had met a road accident and was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment by a Chippa ambulance service driver, identified as Shahid Nawaz. His father's left leg was reportedly fractured in the accident. However, when Naseebullah reached the hospital, the patient was nowhere to be seen and the hospital management did not cooperate with him regarding his whereabouts, stated the petitioner's lawyer.
Naseebullah had pleaded the court order the Rangers DG and hospital MS to locate and produce his missing father.
Four months later, Sohrab Goth police additional SHO Ali Hyder informed the court that, according to his sources, the petitioner's father was in the custody of a beggars' gang in Hyderabad that was exploiting him for monetary benefits.
Ever since, SHC judges have been ordering police to locate the missing man and retrieve him from the gang. Last week, the bench had ordered the Hyderabad DIG to recover the petitioner's father and submit a report.
During Monday's proceedings, neither the DIG was present nor was any report filed. The bench ordered the DIG to appear in court on Tuesday with a written explanation regarding compliance of the court's earlier directives. "In case the officer failed to comply with this order, a non-bailable warrant for his arrest will be issued," the bench warned.
IG cautioned on IOs performance
The same bench also warned to personally summon Sindh IG Ghulam Haider Jamali in case he failed to improve the performance of officials investigating missing persons' cases.
While hearing different petitions seeking the whereabouts of at least 14 citizens, the bench expressed its extreme displeasure over the performance of the investigation officers (IO), who failed to make any progress regarding whereabouts of the missing men despite a lapse of considerable time.
The bench asked the IG to take notice of his officials' performance and take necessary measures in this regard. In case no improvement is made till March 14, the IG will be personally summoned to explain the situation, warned the bench.
The bench also issued notices to the provincial home secretary, Rangers DG and SSPs of the relevant police zones to file their comments on whereabouts of the missing men by the next hearing.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 1st, 2016.
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