Police protection: Police ignore court orders with impunity

Judge again issues warrants for SP and SHO accused of sexual harassment.

LAHORE:

Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Ghulam Murtaza has again issued non-bailable arrest warrants for a superintendent of police (SP) and a station house officer (SHO) for alleged sexual harassment.

The court has repeatedly instructed senior police officials, including the capital city police officer (CCPO), to arrest Multan SP Shaukat Abbas and Kanganpur (Kasur district) SHO Raza Shah and produce them in court, but the orders have been ignored.

Shah’s lawyer has turned up for a few hearings, but the SHO has not. Abbas has not turned up for a hearing since April.

According to the complainant in the case, Khurshid Bibi, the SP and the SHO led a raid by some 20 policemen on her house in Manga Mandi in March 2006, claiming to be looking for a proclaimed offender. She said that during the raid, the policemen beat up her and her female relatives. She said she and her daughter-in-law were taken to the garden, forced to take off their clothes and then were groped.

Khurshid Bibi has led a long and painstaking quest to force legal action against the offending policemen, but they have been allowed to ignore repeated court summons since April.

The court has issued notices, bailable arrest warrants and non-bailable arrest warrants for the officers to no effect.

Incidentally, there are several other ongoing cases at the district courts where judges have instructed senior police officials to arrest and produce subordinates for ignoring court orders.

Harassment

Khurshid Bibi moved the sessions court after the alleged harassment incident in 2006 and a judge directed the Lahore CCPO to conduct an inquiry. Sadar SP Sadar Qaisar Abbas was assigned the task of conducting the inquiry, but he did not cooperate, said Khurshid Bibi.



She later filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court where Justice Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry passed an order directing the Manga Mandi SHO to register a criminal case against Shah and Abbas. Manga Mandi SHO Muhammad Usman did not register the case and instead sought an opinion from the SP (Legal).

The SP (Legal) responded that as per the Supreme Court, the SHO had a legal obligation to register the case, irrespective of whether he felt the contents of the complaint were false or otherwise.

Khurshid Bibi said that she again asked SHO Muhammad Usman to register the case, but he did not do so even after the SP (Legal) issued his opinion.

On Tuesday, the judge again issued non-bailable arrest warrants for the SP and SHO accused of sexual harassment, as well as SHO Usman for not registering a case as per court orders.

Police summoned

In another case at the Sessions Court, Additional District and Sessions Judge Akmal Khan has directed the SSP (Operations) to register an FIR against the Nishtar Colony SHO, arrest him and produce him before the court for ignoring orders to produce the witnesses in a murder case.

And Additional District and Sessions Judge Rai Muhammad Ayub Khan Marth has directed the Crimes Investigation Agency SP to arrest an assistant sub inspector and two constables who are accused of illegally detaining and torturing a man who later died of his injuries.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2012.