CCPO pledges to trace ‘missing’ person

Petitioner says his son did not return home after going to court for bail in rape case

LAHORE:

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umer Sheikh on Monday took up the gauntlet to produce before the Lahore High Court (LHC) a man accused of rape in another case, who has been missing for nine months.

LHC’s Justice Farooq Haider summoned the CCPO to give him the task to solve a mystery in which rival parties have accused each other of abduction.

“You have been summoned here to solve a mystery. You would have to resolve this matter and produce the man before the court after recovering him,” Justice Haider remarked.

The CCPO assured the judge that the man would be produced before the court. The judge granted the CCPO three-week time for producing the man after tracing him.

Abdul Qayum’s father had lodged an FIR against a girl’s relatives who had earlier filed rape charges against him.

In the habeas corpus petition, Muhammad Ayub, father of Abdul Qayum, sought the recovery of his son, contending that he had not returned home after going to the sessions court on January 15 to get bail in the case registered against him on rape charges. Since that day he had been missing, the petitioner stated. The petitioner’s counsel alleged that his client’s son had been abducted by the girl’s family.

The counsel for the girl’s family argued that they had nominated Abdul Qayum in a rape case. The man’s family claimed that the girl had married him.

When the girl recorded her statement before a court, she preferred to go home with her parents, declaring that she had not married Abdul Qayum. On this, the LHC imposed a fine of Rs10,000 against Abdul Qayum for misleading the court.

He argued that when the accused went missing from the sessions court, an FIR of abduction was registered against those persons who were named as witnesses in the FIR registered against Abdul Qayum.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2020.