Suspension of Gizri SHO stayed in girl kidnapping case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday stayed an additional sessions’ court order with regard to suspension of the Gizri SHO in a girl abduction case and directed the Karachi additional IG to conduct an inquiry into the matter and take appropriate action against police officials if their negligence was proved,.

The interim order came on the application of Gizri SHO Tanveer Murad who sought suspension of the additional sessions court order in which he along with two other sub-inspectors were suspended in the girl abduction case.

The applicant had submitted in the application that the additional sessions judge had held that police officials, including the Gizri SHO, had illegally detained the girl in their custody and did not recover her on the orders of the court.

A counsel for the applicant submitted that a case was registered on behalf of Jozelina Eric submitting that the girl made a complaint that her sister brought her to Karachi from Lahore and sold her out to a guest house for prostitution.

The counsel submitted that the detainee girl later appeared at the women protection cell where she recorded her statement and said that she wanted to go with her family members. He submitted that the trial court issued the impugned order on July 29 stating that the Gizri police failed to perform their duties, but contended that the applicant had performed his duty in accordance with the law.

He submitted that the additional sessions court had ordered the suspension of the SHO and two other sub-inspectors with immediate effect and directed the additional IG to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

The counsel submitted that the applicant was suspended before the inquiry and it was yet to be established if the applicant was involved in the case. He requested the high court to suspend the impugned order to the extent of the applicant.

A single bench of the SHC headed by Justice Amjad Ali Sahito after a preliminary hearing of the application issued notices to the advocate general for August 31 and in the meantime, suspended the impugned order to the extent of the suspension of the Gizri SHO till the next date of hearing.