KP Police incompetent: SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday took a suo motu notice of the brutal murder of Asma Rani – a medical college student – in Kohat a day after the police confirmed that the main accused, Mujahid Afridi, had fled the country for Saudi Arabia from the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad.

It also observed that the failure to catch the culprit involved in the rape and murder of four-year-old Asma was a clear sign of incompetency of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police.

Last week, Mujahid and his accomplice Sadiqullah reportedly opened fire at the medical college student, after she refused a marriage proposal. The victim was visiting her family in Kohat during a session break. Mujahid and Sadiqullah had fled the crime scene.

The victim received three bullets and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she had identified Mujahid as the assailant before succumbing to her injuries. Meanwhile, Sadiqullah, who had been named in the FIR, was arrested on Tuesday morning after the police conducted raids in Kohat.

The development came as a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umer Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsen resumed hearing in the suo motu case concerning the rape of four-year-old Asma – a resident of Gujar Garhi, Mardan.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the Chief Justice asked the DIG as to whether any progress was made in arresting the culprit, to which he replied that efforts were under way to capture him.

What efforts are under way, the Chief Justice asked and said there seems to be no proper mechanism evolved by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police for conducting an investigation and arresting criminals.

“Where are those intelligence sources which the police opt for nabbing the culprit,” the chief justice questioned. The chief justice remarked that the suspect was said to be a relative of a PTI leader and questioned how he was able to flee the country.

He issued a notice to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IGP and directed him to submit a report in the medical student’s murder in 24 hours. About the minor girls’ rape and murder, Mardan DIG Muhammad Alam Shinwari along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Additional Advocate General Muhammad Waqar appeared before the court and said they were unable to trace the culprit.

Chief Justice Saqib observed that he heard a lot about the efficiency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police; however, the failure to arrest the culprit was a clear sign of incompetency. He also asked why the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IGP did not appear before the court.

The DIG Mardan, in response to the court queries, said Asma went missing on January 13 and the family members registered the case with the local police station when she did not return home in the evening. The next day, the police found the body in the sugarcane field near her house, he added.

Shinwari said the evidence collected from the victim’s body, clothes and shoes and the samples taken during post-mortem had been sent to thePunjab Forensic Sciences Agency (PFSA), Lahore, as there was no such facility in the province except for DNA testing.

“There are laboratories but they are not up to the standard of Punjab Sciences Forensic Agency, Lahore.” The additional advocate general, however, informed the court that a laboratory was being constructed in the Khyber Medical College, Peshawar. The DIG said unless and until they received the result from the PFSA, they could not move further the investigation into the matter.

"It means you don’t have the capability to investigate and you are awaiting for the final report from the forensic lab in Lahore," the chief justice observed. To another court query, the DIG replied that according to the autopsy report, the cause of the minor girl’s death was apraxia, adding that they had so far interviewed over 350 people in the case.

He said they had sent three swaps of DNA, the body, clothes collected from crime scene, piece of sugarcane and the blood found on a leaf to the lab in Lahore. The additional advocate general told the court that samples from 280 people had been collected and stored at the Bacha Khan Medical College.

During the course of hearing, the DIG also produced before the court, the father of Asma and another relative. When the bench asked them as to whether the police had told them not to speak anything before the court, the father and his relative could not say anything, as the court was informed that they did not speak Urdu.

Meanwhile, the chief justice asked its staff to make a call to PFSA DG Dr Ashraf Tahir and inquire as to when the report would be finalised. The court asked the DIG Mardan to submit a progress report in the case by next Tuesday and adjourned the hearing.

The four-year-old girl had gone missing on January, 13 and her dead body was found the next day from the nearby fields. She was sexually assaulted before being killed. On January 26, the chief justice took suo motu notice of the murder and sought report from the provincial police chief within 24 hours.

The PFSA had reportedly already confirmed that the minor girl was sexually assaulted before murder. The media, while quoting the DG PFSA, reported that the evidence collected from the victim’s body, clothes and shoes and samples taken during post-mortem showed that she was raped.