Missing maid: SP warned of consequences if girl not recovered
Court gives officer two days to obtain cell phone calls data, produce girl.
LAHORE:
A two member bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a superintendent of police to recover within two days a housemaid who went missing in April 2011.
If he failed to do so, the court said, the SP would face an “unfavourable order”.
Justice Jawad S Khwaja, head of the bench, also remarked that apathy appeared to have become the routine on the part of the police.
The bench is hearing a petition seeking recovery of an 18-year-old house maid, who went missing from her employer’s house in Shadman in April 2011.
The SP’s failure to answer questions about the case investigation angered the judges. The officer also failed to present the case diary before the court which the bench had asked for.
The SP remained silent when Justice Amir Hani Muslim asked him the section of the Criminal Procedure Code under which an investigation officer was required to maintain a case diary.
The judge then remarked, “It is shameful that the police have made zero progress in the case since the last hearing.”
He said if the investigation officers properly maintained case diaries, conviction rate could rise to as much as 80 per cent.
The judge observed that the main reason behind such failures was lack of training.
Justice Khwaja told the SP he should produce the girl by the next hearing. Else, he would face “dire consequences”.
Justice Muslim said if the SP yet again failed to recover the girl, the court would assign the task to the “most honest officer” in the Police Department, who will likely recover the girl within 24 hours.
The SP then sought more time to recover the girl, but the bench ignored him.
Earlier, Muhammad Atique, the girl’s employer, complained that his family, including the women, were called to the police station for interrogation at odd times. He said that the police had also misplaced the data of his post-paid cellular phone sim, which he said, had apparently been stolen by the maid.
He said that the data had indicated that the girl had made regular calls from his phone, some of those more than an hour long.
Justice Khwaja directed the SP to approach the relevant phone company and obtain the call record. The judges gave the SP two days to do so and adjourned the hearing till March 22.
Muhammad Ishaq of Nankana Sahib had filed the petition saying that his daughter had worked at Atique’s house.
He said two years ago he had fixed her marriage but when he came to take her home, Atique refused to let her go. A few months later, he said, his daughter was reported to have been kidnapped from Atique’s house.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2012.
A two member bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a superintendent of police to recover within two days a housemaid who went missing in April 2011.
If he failed to do so, the court said, the SP would face an “unfavourable order”.
Justice Jawad S Khwaja, head of the bench, also remarked that apathy appeared to have become the routine on the part of the police.
The bench is hearing a petition seeking recovery of an 18-year-old house maid, who went missing from her employer’s house in Shadman in April 2011.
The SP’s failure to answer questions about the case investigation angered the judges. The officer also failed to present the case diary before the court which the bench had asked for.
The SP remained silent when Justice Amir Hani Muslim asked him the section of the Criminal Procedure Code under which an investigation officer was required to maintain a case diary.
The judge then remarked, “It is shameful that the police have made zero progress in the case since the last hearing.”
He said if the investigation officers properly maintained case diaries, conviction rate could rise to as much as 80 per cent.
The judge observed that the main reason behind such failures was lack of training.
Justice Khwaja told the SP he should produce the girl by the next hearing. Else, he would face “dire consequences”.
Justice Muslim said if the SP yet again failed to recover the girl, the court would assign the task to the “most honest officer” in the Police Department, who will likely recover the girl within 24 hours.
The SP then sought more time to recover the girl, but the bench ignored him.
Earlier, Muhammad Atique, the girl’s employer, complained that his family, including the women, were called to the police station for interrogation at odd times. He said that the police had also misplaced the data of his post-paid cellular phone sim, which he said, had apparently been stolen by the maid.
He said that the data had indicated that the girl had made regular calls from his phone, some of those more than an hour long.
Justice Khwaja directed the SP to approach the relevant phone company and obtain the call record. The judges gave the SP two days to do so and adjourned the hearing till March 22.
Muhammad Ishaq of Nankana Sahib had filed the petition saying that his daughter had worked at Atique’s house.
He said two years ago he had fixed her marriage but when he came to take her home, Atique refused to let her go. A few months later, he said, his daughter was reported to have been kidnapped from Atique’s house.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2012.