PHC concerned over warrantless raids
A raid by the police on a house without warrants has irked the court which warned the police that the attitude of the department was intolerable. This was observed on Wednesday by a two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Ijaz Anwar, as it heard a writ petition filed against the illegal police action. The petitioner told the court that a heavy contingent of police raided his house without any warrant while they also held his family hostage. Responding to this, Cantonment Police SP told the bench that the police entered the petitioner’s house for investigation purposes. At this point, Justice Qaiser remarked that conducting an investigation does not mean that the police can enter anyone’s house without a warrant. The City SP told the court that he belongs to Lahore, to which Justice Qaiser said that what the Lahore CCPO was doing was enough warned that they will not allow such practices to prevail in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa K-P. The court directed the SP to sort out the issue by sitting with the complainant.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2020.