Jumping through loopholes: Unable to catch PO for years, police gets another deadline

Complainant says that besides the police, the suspect has also been misleading courts.

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court has directed the city police to arrest a proclaimed offender in a five-year-old cheating and forgery case and present him before the court on April 28 (next week).

Earlier, the police excused themselves for their failure to comply with court directives about the arrest of the suspect, Dilshad Akbar, before Monday’s hearing. They said their investigation had revealed that the suspect was out of the city.

Advocate Burhan Moazzam Malik, counsel for complainant Nadeem Anwar, however, dismissed the explanation and said that the police appeared to be reluctant to arrest the suspect. He said the suspect was last spotted in the city on April 17.



At the previous hearing on April 15, Investigation SSP Rana Ayaz Saleem had admitted that the police were negligent in investigation of the case. He had assured Justice Mazahir Ali Naqvi that the suspect would be arrested and presented before the court on the next hearing.

In the writ petition filed on behalf of the complainant, Advocate Malik had sought court directives for the city police to arrest the suspect. He had said that the police had yet to take any action against him despite various court directives and the latter’s failure to join investigation in his client’s FIR registered with the Naseerabad police in 2010.

The writ petition had stated that besides the case in question the suspect was a proclaimed offender in three cases registered, respectively, with Defence Area police (on April 28, 2000); Mughalpura police (on January 7, 2002); and Defence A police (on April 9,2012).

The writ petition had stated that there were 30 other FIRs registered against the suspect [Akbar] with various police stations in the country.

The writ petition had also accused the suspect of attempting to mislead judges in more than 29 pre-arrest bail applications filed in connection with the FIR. It had said that all of his bail pleas were dismissed either on merit or on grounds that he had concealed information about previous bail pleas (required under the law).

According to the writ petition, Akbar’s first pre-arrest bail petition in the case was dismissed on merit by Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Mian Mureed Hussain on March 27, 2010. The suspect then filed bail pleas before ADSJ Husnain Qadir Ghillon. It was dismissed on August 7, 2010, for concealment of facts. The third petition was filed before Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi. It was dismissed on merit on September 3, 2010. Some of his other bail pleas were filed with ADSJ Muhammad Yousaf Ojla (dismissed on January 11, 2011, for concealment of facts); ADSJ Muhammad Ramazan (dismissed on July 30, 2011, for concealment of facts); ADSJ Muhammad Sheraz Kiani (dismissed on October 11, 2011, for concealment of facts); ADSJ Chaudhary Munir Ahmed (on December 24, 2011, on concealment of facts); and ADSJ Sardar Ali Bhatti (on July 26, 2012, for concealment of facts).

Talking to The Express Tribune, Dilshad Akbar said that he had committed no crime. He said it was his right to file bail petitions. When asked whether he had misled the court by filing bail pleas while concealing information about dismissal of his previous bail pleas by other courts, he parried the question. He said the 30 other FIRs registered against him were based on misinformation and were meant to blackmail and harass him.

Previous writ petitions: In a previous petition submitted by the complainant on December 18, 2014, Justice Syed Muhammad Kazim Raza Shamsi had directed Sub Inspector Nazakat Ali to arrest the suspect and present him before the court on February 26, 2015.

SI Ali had appeared in the court for the hearing instead of SI Muhammad Afzal, who was originally investigating the case but was transferred out of the police station. SI Ali had told the judge that he was studying the case and assured him that the suspect would be arrested and presented before the court on the prescribed date.

In another petition submitted by the complainant (when?), former LHC Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhary had directed the capital city police officer to look into the matter and ensure the arrest of suspect.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2015.