LHC sets aside amendment on roznaamcha

Chief Justice Lahore High Court Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan set aside an amendment made in police rules through which maintaining “daily diary register” (roznaamcha) in every police station had been ended.

The province’s top judge also set aside the SOPs initiated for maintaining a computerized record in police stations rather than the previous “roznaamcha” in which all activities/movements were mentioned in handwriting. CJ Qasim Khan directed DIG Legal Jawad Dogar to restore the practice of maintaining “roznaamcha” in police stations across Punjab.

"Police initiated computerized system merely to hide bad practices, faults, and illegalities committed", the CJ remarked.
Once again the CJ Khan quoted Abid Malih’s case – main accused of motorway gang rape on Sialkot motorway.

Police were applauded for Malih’s arrest while his (Malih) family claimed they handed over Malih to the police, adding that the cops were sleeping on the roof.

“Police set up a computerized system to get favourable results and to get away by easily tempering with the record while the option of tempering with the record could not be available in a 'roznaamcha' since its handwritten.

The CJ Khan was hearing a matter wherein the police officials registered two separate FIRs against a husband and wife under section 9-C of The Control of Narcotics Substances Act 1997. Two FIRs were registered with a gap of only 15 minutes. The petitioner’s counsel Muhammad Ahsan Gondal argued in the post-arrest bail of woman accused Asmat Perveen.

On this, the CJ questioned why has the police stopped writing roznaamcha to which the law officer told the court that now the roznaamcha has been computerized. "Is there any amendment in rules?", the CJ asked.

The rules had been amended through which the practice of roznaamcha has been stopped and all things were made computerized, the law officer told the court.

When the CJ asked to read another clause of the police rules it was found that the police will prepare hard and soft copies of the case record. To which the DIG legal Jawad Dogar admitted that they only amended clause-A while did not touch the clause-C of the rules owing to which the confusion erupted.

The CJ had summoned record from Miana Gondal district Mandi Bahaddin to which the computerized record was produced. It irked CJ Khan upon which the DIG legal was summoned. The court granted bail to woman Asmat Perveen.