LHC dissatisfied with police report

Orders detailed explanation on video of custodial humiliation

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has termed a police report "unsatisfactory" in a contempt petition filed over a viral social media video showing handcuffed young men with shaved heads in Gujranwala.

The court observed that police officers had no authority to humiliate suspects or take the law into their own hands.

Justice Ali Zia Bajwa issued the written order from the previous hearing of the petition filed against the inspector general of Punjab Police, the Gujranwala city police officer (CPO) and others.

The court observed that no police officer was permitted to take the law into his own hands or subject an accused person to humiliation, including forcibly shaving their head or treating them in an inhumane manner.

The order stated that shaving suspects' heads and recording videos for circulating them on social media amounted to an attack on their dignity and self-respect. Such actions, the court noted, erode public confidence in the rule of law, transparency and the justice system.

Justice Bajwa remarked that police officers must remember they were guardians of the law and duty-bound to uphold legal and constitutional protections.

The court also pointed out discrepancies in the police report, observing that while the FIR had mentioned the arrest of only three suspects, the video showed nine individuals in handcuffs.

The order said the police had failed to explain the identities of the remaining six handcuffed individuals seen in the footage.

Ordering further inquiry into the matter, the court ordered the Gujranwala regional police officer (RPO) to examine all aspects of the case and submit a comprehensive report.