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Thursday March 28, 2024

SC tells IGP to scrutinise records of bad cops

KarachiTaking notice of field postings of police officers who have been penalised by their departments on criminal charges, the Supreme Court on Friday directed Sindh IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali to scrutinise all such officers and award them punishments under Section 16.2 of the police rules.Dismissing the criminal petition of former

By Jamal Khurshid
February 28, 2015
Karachi
Taking notice of field postings of police officers who have been penalised by their departments on criminal charges, the Supreme Court on Friday directed Sindh IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali to scrutinise all such officers and award them punishments under Section 16.2 of the police rules.
Dismissing the criminal petition of former Sachal SHO Ismail Lashari, who assailed the orders of the Sindh High Court for an inquiry into the extrajudicial killing of a student, Anis Soomro, in a fake police encounter, the apex court directed the IGP to issue directions to all SSPs to ensure that character roles were maintained of all police officials at the district level.
“These black sheep are destroying the entire system,” observed the two-member SC bench headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim while issuing directives for screening the record of all police officers in the province who have been major or minor penalties on basis of criminal charges and take action against them under the relevant laws.
The apex court also directed that service books of policemen must contain their performance sheets, bearing the number of criminal cases registered against them or the number of appreciation letters received.
The service books should be computerised, besides being manually stored for safe keeping, the bench observed.
The court asked from the Sindh police chief, who had appeared before the bench following a court notice, about policemen still working despite being discharged from service on criminal charges.
The IGP could not muster a satisfactory reply but assured the bench that such policemen will not be given any field postings and action will be taken against them under the police rules.
He said the postings of SHOs were being dealt with at a higher level while steps were being taken, including amendment in the police laws, to improve the entire system.
The IGP said the records of 75,000 police personnel had been computerised and assured the bench that all other information will also be maintained.
The court observed that the presence of officers with tarnished service records will damage the entire effort of improvements in the police department.
The police had booked Inspector Ismail Lashari, Mukhtiar Mangi, Khalid Bhatti and Shabbir Khoso for their alleged involvement in killing of a student, Anis Soomro, by Sohrab Goth and Sachal police in June last year, following an inquiry conducted by the DIG CID.
The court had taken notice over the field posting of the suspended Inspector Ismail Lashari, his brother Ishaque Lashari and SI Shoaib despite several departmental actions against them.
In this regard, the bench directed the Sindh IGP to apprise the court whether officers with stained records be allowed to hold field postings at important stations. Father of the deceased Anis Soomro, Anwar Ali Soomro, had complained of being harassed by the Malir police to withdraw his son’s murder case.
It was alleged that the Malir SSP Rao Anwar had sent three policemen to Anwar Ali Soomro to ask him to withdraw from the case. The court then directed the district and sessions judge South to hold an inquiry into the allegations levelled by the complainant and submit the report within a month.
Malir SSP Rao Anwar appeared before the court and submitted his reply via his counsel Abid S Zuberi denying the complainant’s allegation. The court directed the SSP Anwar to ensure that no harm was case either to the victim’s father or his family.
If anything untoward happened, warned the court, the Malir police would be held responsible. The court also directed him to appear before the district and sessions judge for district South on March 3 to record his record denial of the complainant’s allegations and initiate inquiry of the matter.
The bench also transferred the investigation officer, from Sachal police station, and appointed SSP East Pir Mohammad Shah to supervise the investigation and submit the charge-sheet in accordance with the law.