Observer Report
Lahore
Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan of the Lahore High Court (LHC), took exception to the Punjab government’s decision to reward the police team that arrested the prime suspect in the motorway gang rape case.
The chief justice, who was hearing a case pertaining to the alleged illegal occupation of land by the police, asked why the police were rewarded for arresting Abid Malhi? “This is the police’s duty to catch criminals,” he remarked.
The provincial police chief was present in the courtroom. The petitioners said that a police training centre was built on 72 kanal land provided by the government to the Evacuee Trust Property Board.
They complained to the lahore high court that the police were harassing them by sending officers of the special branch to the Board.
The chief justice directed them to submit a written request to the police for registration of an FIR against the officers. He asked the petitioners to approach this court if a case is not registered on their complaint.
Justice Khan remarked police officers have illegally occupied government land. “Should a police officer wait for a reward before catching a suspect?” he questioned. “Is it not the job of police to catch a suspect? If they don’t do that, what will they do? This is a new technique by the Punjab government.”
On Monday, Lahore’s Crime Investigation Agency had arrested Malhi from Manga Mandi, approximately 33 kilometres from the provincial capital. The arrest came after police released Malhi’s parents, brothers and wife, allowing them to use their old mobile phone SIMs in order to trap him.
A spokesperson for the Lahore police said Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani had announced an award for the special investigation team and the CIA officers involved in the case.
IGP Inam, who appeared before the court in the hearing, was also reprimanded by Justice Khan. “It is strange that police is being rewarded for arresting a culprit,” the chief justice told the provincial police chief.
“If this continues, policemen will first wait for a reward announcement and then nab suspects,” the judge remarked.
The Lahore motorway rape, which happened last month, sparked countrywide outrage after a mother of two was gang-raped off the Lahore-Sialkot motorway in front of her children after her car ran out of fuel on the way to Gujranwala late at night.
Malhi, one of the primary suspects in the case, had managed to evade arrest for a month, prompting criticism of the police and other investigating agencies. Police had at first detained his family, including his parents and wife, in a bid to trace his whereabouts.
An anti-terrorism court in Lahore, which is hearing the gang-rape case, had banned media coverage of the case after the investigating officer pleaded that irresponsible media coverage was damaging the progress and value of evidence so far collected.
Following the ATC order, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) restrained all television channels from airing news on the case. The ban on media coverage was suspended soon after Malhi’s arrest.
