Failure to recover missing person: Defence, interior secretaries may be jailed, says SHC

KARACHI: Irked over the State's failure to recover a missing person for over five years, the Sindh High Court (SHC) warned federal secretaries for defence and interior could be sent to prison to set a precedence, Geo News reported. The remarks came during court proceedings in a missing persons case being heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto and Justice Abdul Mobeen Lakho on Wednesday.

Reprimanding police officials, the bench rejected the report submitted by the investigating officer (IO) and chided prosecutors. "This drama will not be tolerated any longer," said Justice Phulpoto as he issued arrest warrants for the IO.

The court has summoned reports from the federal secretaries for interior and defence, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Karachi in the next hearing fixed for February 17. The bench has also sought details of prisoners in detention centre across the province from the Sindh Home Department, police officials and other relevant departments.

Observing that the court was left with no choice but to order imprisonment of officials involved, the bench said a precedence will be set by sending the secretaries to jail over failure to recover missing citizens.