Failure to recover citizen: IHC slaps Rs10m fine on interior, defence secretaries, police

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday imposed Rs10 million fine on the interior secretary, defence secretary, SP (investigation), JIT in-charge, and Golra SHO over their failure to investigate a missing person case.

IHC’s Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani said in the verdict that they jointly held responsible for their failure to provide due protection to Ghulam Qadir.

The court said the state machinery is responsible in this case and by fixing the responsibility upon the aforesaid officials, the authorities have been given 30 days to recover Qadir. The court announced on Friday its verdict on the writ petition filed by Qadir’s brother for his recovery.

The petitioner said 40-year-old Qadir was detained while was travelling to his house near Orakzai Market with his 13-year-old son on August 28, 2014. He reached near an underpass when five to six men in a white car detained him. His lawyer argued that Qadir was kidnapped by law enforcement agencies and has been missing since 2014. Qadir’s brother filed an FIR at the Golra Sharif police station and even filed a complaint with the Commissioner of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances.

“The matter was not investigated by the police authorities despite the best efforts of the petitioner,” the court said in its order. The investigation officer of the case and the SP were unable to justify any of their action on the basis of the investigation referred in the police diaries, the court said. “The case diaries reveal that they have not carried out the investigation in a proper manner, rather they are willfully avoiding the investigation for the reasons best known to them.”

The commission declared the status of Qadir an enforced disappearance and directed officials of the interior ministry to produce him in front of the commission, the court said, adding that no action was taken even then.

“The court is not satisfied with the working of the police department as well as the conduct of the interior and defence secretaries,” the verdict said. “The entire background alone reflects that the police department is not capable of investigating crimes.