LEAs can’t act as judge under powers to arrest: SHC

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday observed that law enforcement agencies’ (LEA) authority to arrest criminals can never be used as a licence to take the law into their own hands nor the court can authorise an LEA officer to act as “judge and executor”.

Hearing petition of Suneeta who sought action against police officials for injuring and disabling her spouse in a fake police encounter by labeling him as a dacoit, a division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar observed that it must be proved that all such police actions were bona fide.

The petitioner had submitted in her plea that her spouse, Dr Deepak Raj, was a psychiatrist and running a private clinic in Karachi. She submitted that he went to Hyderabad on April 10, 2015 to meet his friend where the police injured him in a fake encounter by declaring him as Sharif Panhwar dacoit.

She submitted that when she approached the police and provided them information about her spouse, they insisted that he was a dacoit and was injured in a police encounter in Hyderabad. She maintained that the police did not accept the identity card of her spouse and threatened her as well.

Suneeta requested the SHC to take action against then Hyderabad SSP Irfan Baloch and other officials for injuring her spouse in a fake encounter and direct the government to provide compensation and medical treatment to her spouse.

The police, however, denied the allegations of the petitioner and submitted that Dr Raj was involved in many cases of robbery and dacoity.

After perusal of an interim progress report, the SHC observed that police officials had prima facie failed to conduct the investigation properly and remarked that till date the police were not sure whether the petitioner’s spouse was a dacoit or not.

The high court observed that till date the police had not been able to substantiate their claim that the petitioner’s spouse was in fact a dacoit who was involved in several cases though the police were supposed to have all the means of collecting information and verifying records.

The SHC observed that the LEAs personnel, who have access to modern technology and who are properly trained for their job, must make sure that their actions were against the criminals only because the other undeniable duty of the LEAs was ensuring the safety of public.

The high court observed that the police had admitted that the injuries on the person were the result of their actions as it was an alleged police encounter; therefore, it would not be legally justified to let the victim and his family live in misery and permit the police to take the shield of suspicion.

The SHC ordered the registration of FIR against then Hyderabad SSP Irfan Baloch, then DSP Ahmed Ali Mughal and other police personnel with regard to the actions of police wherein the victim undeniably received serious injuries and luckily survived. The court directed the Hyderabad SSP to ensure that the FIR was registered within two days.

The high court also directed the home secretary to constitute a joint investigation team comprising Additional IG Waliullah Dal and four other officials, including one representative of the Inter-Services Intelligence and one representative of the Intelligence Bureau.

The SHC observed that it was the responsibility of the state to provide medical aid to the petitioner’s spouse who needed treatment because of the consequences of police action.

The court directed the health secretary to constitute a medical board comprising competent officers which shall examine the petitioner’s spouse and provide medical treatment to him free of charge.

The high court observed that the medical board shall also submit as whether medical treatment was available to Dr Raj or not. The SHC also directed the provincial government to pay Rs50,000 for household expenses and education of the victim’s child. The chief secretary was directed to submit a compliance report by October 8.