Pindi cops hesitant to book fellow policemen

Lawyer claims officials raided his house, harassed his family


Mudassir Raja July 23, 2017
Police. PHOTO: AFP

RAWALPINDI: Police are hesitating in registering a case against three officials from the Banni police for raiding the house of a lawyer and allegedly harassing his family.

The resistance comes despite orders from an additional sessions judge to lodge the FIR.

Advocate Waleed Khan had filed a complaint with the Ratta Amral police, urging them to book three police officials and around 67 unidentified people.

The men, the lawyer alleged, had ‘raided’ his house on the night of July 14, the police officials had allegedly raided his house and harassed his family. He alleged that the law enforcers also took away gold ornaments weighing 113.4 grammes and Rs550,000 in cash from the house.

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Documents available with The Express Tribune show that on July 19, Additional Sessions Judge Raza Awan had directed the police to register a case against Waris Khan circle DSP Zhaigham Abbas, Banni police station SHO Nadeem Abbas, SI Risalat Hussain, SIU investigation officer Waris Khan and other unidentified people.

The orders were issued after Waleed had filed a petition, under section 22-A of Criminal Procedure Code, stating that he had filed complaints with the local police.

Later, an application was filed at the office of the city police officer along with the necessary evidence against the police officials named. However, he stated that he received no response from senior police officials.

The petitioner told the court that police officials allegedly threatened him with dire consequences if his family failed to cooperate with them in arresting his maternal cousin, Muhammad Faizan.

Faizan is allegedly wanted in a murder case which had been registered with the Banni police on January 11, 2017.

Meanwhile, police officials told the court that they had been chasing Faizan, a proclaimed offender. They added that based on a tip-off provided by an informant about Faizan’s whereabouts, they had raided the lawyer’s house.

The police further told the court that the family had been harbouring a proclaimed offender. However, the court in its verdict observed that police entered Waleed’s house without fulfilling required legal steps and had hence committed an illegal act.

The court had subsequently directed the petitioner to approach the police with a fresh complaint about registering an FIR.

Waleed told The Express Tribune that he had approached the police on Saturday in compliance with court orders, but police were not cooperating with him.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23rd, 2017.

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