Magistrate fines IOs, frees accused

Malir magistrate fines officers of police stations while freeing people arrested for violating pillion riding ban.

KARACHI: The judicial magistrate of Malir fined investigating officers (IOs) of a number of police stations Rs10,000 each on Monday while freeing more than four dozen people who were arrested for violating the ban on pillion riding.

The ban was imposed by the Sindh home department under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code and the violators were charged to be punished under section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

On Monday, IOs from the Malir City, Gadap and Memon Goth police stations, among others, produced the people accused of violating the ban before the court. The court noted that most of the accused were more than 40 years old and thus fell within the “senior citizens” category.

The court maintained that a police officer cannot become a complainant in such cases and only an officer who has the powers to pronounce or impose a ban - such as a District Coordination Officer, a district nazim or a home secretary and above - can become a complainant in these matters.

Following this observation, the judicial magistrate ordered the release of the accused in custody and fined the IOs.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2010.