IHC rebukes police for letting suspects off hook

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday admonished the Islamabad Police for letting the main suspect in the Red Zone firing case leave the police station and putting an ordinary citizen in the lockup instead to mislead the court.

Hearing about the fight between PTI MPA’s Abida Raja’s husband Chuadhry Khurram and District and Sessions Judge Malik Jehangir Awan, the court stated the police will have to prove whether rule of law exists in the capital.

A single-member bench of IHC, comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, heard a bail plea filed by Bilal Abbasi on Thursday.

CJ Minallah expressed discontent at the police and asked if this was the state of the rule of law that the powerful could not be arrested but ordinary citizens are put in lockups to fool the court.

The court granted a week to submit a report on arresting Khurram.

The court asked the City SP Omar Khan whether it should issue notices to the interior secretary and Islamabad Police Inspector General to let them know what was happening in the capital city.

CJ Minallah said the police had to satisfy the court on why Khurram has not been arrested. “There is no law for the elite,” he remarked, reiterating that there was no rule of law in Islamabad.

Minallah asked how was the MPA’s husband was allowed to leave the police station while another person was booked and put in the lockup.

City SP sought time to further probe the matter. At this, the chief justice said that action should be taken against the SHO and directed the SP to convey to the IGP to probe the incident and submit a report in a week.

The court remarked it will summon the interior secretary and IGP if police did not arrest the suspect. The hearing of the case was adjourned indefinitely.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2020.