Sharifan Bibi case: PHC declares probe progress report incomplete

PESHAWAR: Declaring the police investigation progress report as incomplete in the case of Sharifan Bibi, who was allegedly paraded naked in public, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed the police to arrest the principal accused Sajawal and seek help of other agencies if needed.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Muhammad Ghazanfar Khan also directed the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Headquarters to submit the final and complete investigation progress report in the case before February 1, which is the next date of hearing.

The bench conducted hearing on the police progress report in the Sharifan Bibi case submitted through the Human Rights Cell of the PHC.

During the hearing, Qazi Muhammad Anwar, who appeared on behalf of Sharifan Bibi, informed the bench that the principal accused was still at large. He maintained that Basharat, the station house officer (SHO), had taken the mobile phone carrying the video of the incident and was trying to destroy the evidence in the case.

As per the Dera Ismail Khan Police investigation progress report submitted in the Human Rights Cell of Peshawar PHC, efforts are on to arrest the main accused Sajawal.

The PHC had disposed of the writ petition filed by the victim girl Sharifan Bibi and directed the Inspector General Police (IGP), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to ensure submission of progress and investigation report in the case after every 15 days to the Human Rights Cell.

The police stated in the report that eight out of the nine accused had been arrested. It said the police had initiated the process for seizure of immovable property of the absconder and forwarded the case of confiscation of 138 kanals of land under section 88 of CrPC to the court of judicial magistrate.

The police claimed in the report that they had collected 10 mobile phones from a suspect, Rahmatullah, who according to Sharifan Bibi filmed her with his mobile phone while being paraded naked.

However, the police stated that out of the 10 mobile phones, seven were checked in the FSL Peshawar but no such video clips were found. It said the remaining three phones have also been sent for forensic checking to trace the video clips.

The police also claimed that security had been provided to the victim girl and her family. Besides, it said preventative measures on large scale have been taken for protection of the victim family and 10 members of the accused party have been challaned under section 107/151 of CrPC.

Talking to the members of the media after the court hearing, Sharifan Bibi’s uncle Ghulam Shabbir showed dissatisfaction over the police investigation. He remarked that Zainab’s killer in Kasur, Punjab was arrested within days, but the main accused in the Sharifan Bibi case was still at large.

He alleged that SHO of the concerned police station had seized mobile phone carrying the video and was not producing it as evidence in the case.

In the petition, the 16-year old Sharifan Bibi requested the court to direct the provincial government and the police chief to provide security to her and her family, recover her video from the possession of one of the accused Rahmatullah and inclusion of his name in the FIR as he had filmed her when she was paraded naked.

After the court decision, senior lawyer Qazi Muhammad Anwar informed the media that they have got the relief sought in the petition as proper sections of law including Anti-Terrorism Act could be added against the accused in the FIR during investigation. He pointed out that these sections had been mentioned by the police in the FIR.