Court irked by SHO’s ‘poor investigation’

IHC summons SSP Operations today

ISLAMABAD: The ‘poor investigation’ by a police officer, to trace the whereabouts of a man who had contracted a free-will marriage with a resident of Gujranwala, irked the court on Wednesday, which decided to summon the Islamabad Police operations SSP today (Thursday).

This was directed on Wednesday by a single-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, as it heard a plea filed by two sisters hailing from Gujranwala who had survived an honour killing attempt.

Proceedings began on Wednesday with the Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Tayyab Shah arguing that a medical examination of the sisters has been completed as per the court's orders. The Shams Colony police station SHO said that the wounds on one the petitioners showed that she had been assaulted two months ago. The court then inquired from the SHO about the progress made in the investigation.

The officer responded by saying that the petitioner had contracted a free-will marriage on January 20. He added that the petitioner had been in a relationship with her husband for the past five years after befriending each other through a social media website.

At this, the court remarked that the police's job was not to conduct such an investigation. Instead, CJ Minallah said that the SHO should inform the court about the whereabouts of the petitioner's husband.

At this, the SHO said that the petitioner had provided her husband's phone number, however, it has been powered off and all attempts to contact have been futile. The official further conceded that the police have been unable to trace him.

At this, the court remarked that this was not the proper way to handle the case.

"A person is missing and the police are responsible [for recovering him]," CJ Minallah remarked, adding that the SHO should go on leave and sit at home.

"If the matter is to be pursued only on the information retrieved from the applicant, we can do it too," he said, adding that the police are still just asking for the number. The court then summoned the operations SSP on June 11.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2020.