Showing extreme anger over the police’s failure to abide by the law, the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday ordered Islamabad Police SP Rukhsar Mehdi to appear in the court immediately.
During the hearing of the petition filed by Zubair Sabri, a citizen, against the police’s raid on his house and subsequent arrest in a blasphemy case, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked it appeared that no home was safe in Islamabad. “How on earth
could the police violate somebody’s privacy without warrants?” he questioned.
The CJP said that while on the one hand, the police wasted a lot of time in registering criminal cases, on the other hand it took no time to breach the privacy of people’s homes.
Addressing the attorney general of Pakistan (AGP), he said these were the masses from whose money salaries were paid to the government officials and judges. “Truth of the matter is that such cases should never be referred to the apex court,” he asserted.
The CJP further said that article 14 had been violated in the case.
The chief justice was of the view that an FIR should be registered against the investigation officer (IO) in the case. He complained to the attorney general that law officers were not assisting the court. Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar remarked that when according to the law only a police officer of the SP rank could investigate a blasphemy case, then
how an officer junior to him could do so. The court later gave a break in the hearing until the arrival of the SP.
