SHC irked by police ‘disobedience’

Seeks explanation why officials want to lock up accused acquitted in Perween Rehman murder case

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday expressed anger towards the inspector general (IG) and the senior superintendent of police (SSP) and remarked that they have "violated the orders of the court" in the Perween Rehman murder case.

Justice KK Agha made the remarks during the hearing of the petition against the detention under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) of the all five accused in the case who were acquitted by the court.

Home Secretary Saeed Ahmed, Sindh IG Ghulam Nabi Memon and others appeared before the court.

Justice Agha expressed his indignation and said that "you [officials] people make decisions based on bad intentions and come here and confess".

"When the high court has ordered the acquittal of the accused then what is the justification for their detention?" he asked.

The judge maintained that if there was an objection to the decision then an appeal should have been filed in the Supreme Court. "This kind of behaviour is not acceptable at all," he added. The court furthered that if there is a fear of a breach of peace from the accused, then "where is the CRO [criminal record office] report of the accused?" Addressing IG Memon, Justice Agha said that he is a public servant, not an employee of any government.

In his remarks, Memon told the court that only one case of Rehman's murder has been registered against the accused.

The court further inquired whether the police has been informed that there is a threat from the accused. To this, IG Sindh said that there were intelligence reports regarding it.

Irked by the remark of the IG, the court stated that "no excuse of his is acceptable" and said that the police are calling the accused criminal but could not present any evidence. It directed the police to give a CRO.

To this, the police officer asked the court for more time to present details, while the SSP West reiterated that they had intelligence information, on the basis of which the criminal charge was registered against the accused. The SSP further told the court that the victim's sister had appealed that her life was in danger. To this, the SHC judge inquired if the sister had received any threatening phone calls.

The SSP West replied in negative and maintained that the sister had only stated that she was in danger.

The court then asked who had issued the threat letter and warned the officials to give a straight answer, and not force the court to issue a strict order.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2022.