Complaints against police: Court directs govt to notify public safety commission

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim has directed the advocate general to issue a notification about the Provincial Public Safety Commission in view of rising cases of missing persons and complaints against the police.

The court directed the advocate general to submit a detailed report on the matter.The PHC chief justice made the remarks while hearing the case of a petitioner Hazrat Nabi, who claimed that the station house officer of the Zaida Police Station in Swabi had picked up his brother, Abdul Syed, from the Gulberg locality in Peshawar on June 20 and were demanding Rs7 million for his release. The petitioner said that his brother had not committed any crime and was innocent.

KP Advocate General Shah Faisal Utmankhel, DIG Investigation, DPO Swabi and other officials appeared in the court.The chief justice remarked that the court had summoned the chief minister in this case.

The advocate general told the court that the chief minister was attending a meeting in Bannu in connection with the recent firing incident at a protest rally there. Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim expressed annoyance over the fact that the police arrested the accused from outside the jail after they were granted bail.

The chief justice said he would fine the provincial government in the light of the decision of the Islamabad High Court in a similar case. He said the government would have to compensate the persons.

The advocate general said that the provincial government was establishing a forensic lab, which would improve the investigation process and cameras had been installed outside the jails to prevent such happenings.

The chief justice asked the advocate general when would the government notify the Provincial Public Safety Commission and the District Public Safety Commission as seven years had passed since the legislation was done in this respect.The advocate general replied that the government was taking steps to notify it. The court said that the commission should be notified to solve such problems.