SHC issues notices on police's failure to trace suspect

NGO approached court to assign task of arresting attacker to Rangers

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued on Monday notices to the interior secretary, the provincial director-general of the Rangers and others on a petition against the non-arrest of the mysterious man involved in attacking women with a knife in the city.
A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, sought such comments by November 21.



A non-profit organisation (NGO) had approached the court last week over the failure of the provincial police to track down the attacker, who had allegedly attacked various women with a knife in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gulistan-e-Jauhar.
The petitioner group's representative, Atam Parkash Chandani, had argued that the attacker had targeted women in as many 21 incidents, reported from different parts of the metropolis, where the women were injured in knife attacks. His lawyer, Nadeem Sheikh, told the judges that the repeated incidents had scared women and the police failed to track down the attacker. He had sought a direction for the interior ministry to assign the task of arresting the mysterious attacker to the paramilitary force.



A video showing a motorcyclist, wearing a tinted glass helmet, attacking women in Gulistan-e-Jauhar went viral on social media. Within days, similar attacks were reported from different parts of the same neighbourhood.
According to the petition, around 21 such incidents of stabbings have been reported so far. The petitioner argued that instead of arresting the accused, the police had announced a cash reward of Rs100,000 for those who will help bring the attacker to the book. He added that this strategy itself amounted to admission of the police's failure in performing their duties.
The Karachi police, however, claim that 13 women were attacked in the city. On Sunday they arrested a suspect in connection with the case in Punjab.
Hence, the court was pleaded to direct the interior ministry to hand over the matter, in particular, and the overall law and order situation to the Rangers.

 After hearing the initial arguments, the judges issued notices to the federal law officer to submit comments on behalf of federal authorities concerned by November 21, when the matter will be taken up again.