LHC reprimands IGP, summons CM in child custody case

Police chief fails to satisfy court on efforts made to trace petitioner’s son

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar after Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shoaib Dastagir failed to give a timeframe for recovering a boy in a child custody case.

A woman, Yasmeen Abdur Rasheed, had filed a writ petition in the LHC, seeking recovery of her minor son Abdur Rafay from her ex-husband.

LHC’s Justice Tariq Abbasi summoned the chief minister on the next date of hearing after the IGP appeared reluctant to give an undertaking with a timeframe despite assuring the court of making all-out efforts to produce the minor.

The IGP could not present any order under which, as per his claim, a team had been constituted for probing into the matter, or any summary through which he had given approval in this regard.

As the IGP appeared before the court, the judge asked why he had not attended the proceedings earlier on the court’s directives. “I am here before the court,” the IGP replied. “You should have come obeying the court’s earlier orders.”

The IGP said a police party had raided the places where the minor’s father had been living, traced his phone’s location and conducted raids in Rajanpur and Jaranwala.

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He said police officials were making all-out efforts to find the father. The capital city police officer (CCPO) had given the same statement when he appeared before the court a few days back, Justice Abbasi observed. “I am asking about what you have done after February 3,” Justice Abbasi remarked.

“We constituted a police team to investigate the matter,” the IGP replied. “Where is its order; produce it before the court,” Justice Abbasi said.

The judge said the document submitted by the IGP did not have the signatures of the DIG. When the IGP said he had given the approval, the judge asked for the summary that had been placed before him for approval.

As the summary was submitted, Justice Abbasi remarked that in it the CCPO had been ordered to constitute the team. He said he had heard this from the CCPO during the last hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2020.