Sharifan Bibi case: Police seek more time to arrest prime accused

PESHAWAR: The arrest of prime accused in Sharifan Bibi case, who was allegedly paraded naked in the streets of her village in Dera Ismail Khan, has become a challenge for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police.

On Tuesday, the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police from Dera Ismail Khan, Karim Khan, as usual, sought more time for the arrest of the prime accused Sajawal in the case.

The police officer produced another progress report sans the arrest of the principal accused before a division bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Ikramullah Khan in the case.

The police officer also provided some secret note to the bench for court assurance, which was not made part of the order sheet.

Explaining the progress report, the DIG said the accused had not escaped abroad as he had not acquired a passport. He said on the police request, the Nadra had also blocked the Computerised National Identity Card of Sajawal and the Ministry of Interior had put his name on the Exit Control List.

The police officer said that 138 kanal of land of Sajawal had been seized and five FIRs or first information reports had been registered against the family members who had provided shelter to the accused.

Some two days ago, he said, the police had raided at Layyah district in Punjab after receiving secret information of Sajawal presence, but he was not there.

The high court bench, headed by the chief justice, had set a 10-day deadline thrice for the arrest of the prime accused, but to no avail.

On the previous hearings, the chief justice had asked the KP police officers to get assistance from other agencies if nabbing the main accused was difficult for them.

In the case proper sections of law, including Anti-Terrorism Act, are yet to be added by the police against the accused in the FIR during investigation.

As per the legal experts, it was a case of terrorism to parade the girl naked in the streets in the presence of people. They wondered why the police had not charged the accused under terrorism law.

In the petition, the 16-year old Sharifan Bibi has requested the court to direct the provincial government and the police chief to provide security to her and her family, recover her video from the possession of the accused persons as the accused had threatened to post it on the internet if they did not withdraw the case.