Navy hit-and-run incident: Case unregistered as police search for victim’s family

According to law, an FIR should have been registered immediately: legal expert.

ISLAMABAD:

The inability to track down a woman’s relatives precluded police from registering an FIR against the Navy driver involved, police said. The unidentified woman was hit by a vehicle that was part of the naval chief’s squad on Tuesday. She died on the spot.

Law experts, however, say that the police are bound to file a case under the Pakistan Penal Code, even in the absence of a complainant.

“No driver is exempted from the law. Not even the ones in VVIPs’ security protocols,” said Advocate Rizwan Abbasi, a lawyer at Islamabad district courts. The police have to register a case against the suspect immediately after receiving information about the incident, he said. Whether the suspect would be tried under the army act or criminal law is a different matter and would be decided later, he added.

“In case there is no family, anyone including eyewitnesses or even the station house officer of the concerned police station can file a case to start investigations. If convicted, the suspect can be sentenced to 10 years in prison,” Abbasi explained.

The Shehzad Town police, however, say they are still trying to identify the woman and are searching for her relatives. The Naval Police (NP), they said, is cooperating with them.

A police officer, who wished not to be named, explained their reluctance to register a case, “In most cases, the victim’s family prefers to settle the issue out of court. This way they are duly compensated by the suspect.”

The police will wait for another day before moving against the suspect. “The bigger the offence, the bigger the compensation,” he said, adding that they would get the best ‘deal’ for the victim’s family.

The woman, who appears to be in her late thirties, was hit by a NP vehicle escorting naval chief Muhammad Asif Sandila. She was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, where she was declared dead.

According to the police, NP officials approached them soon after the incident and gave the name of the driver and the vehicle registration number. They assured they will cooperate, whether the family decides to go with legal action or ask for compensation.

A navy spokesperson said they are also conducting an internal inquiry. Meanwhile, the police are publicising the woman’s details to trace her family.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2012.