IO told to explain failure to file charge sheet against security guard

A court has issued a show-cause notice to the investigating officer (IO) over his failure to submit a charge sheet against a security guard and three others in a case pertaining to torture on a pregnant woman in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

Daud, along with Abdul Nasir, Adil Khan and Mehmood Khalil, members of the union of a residential project, were booked for physically assaulting Sana Akram over a trivial matter within the jurisdiction of the Sharea Faisal police station on August 8.

The guard was arrested after CCTV footage of the incident went viral on social media, prompting Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to issue directives for his arrest. Daud is currently in judicial custody while the three other suspects are out on bail.

When the case came up for hearing before Judicial Magistrate-VI (East) Durre Shahwar Junejo, the IO was found absent. Expressing displeasure over his absence and non-submission of the charge sheet under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) within the stipulated time, the magistrate issued him a show-cause notice to appear on August 29 along with an explanation in this regard.

At the previous hearing, the magistrate had observed that the statement of the victim recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC revealed that she was pregnant and suffered miscarriage as a result of the torture inflicted on her. She added that such an act of the accused amounted to the offence punishable under Section 338 (punishment of Isqat-i-Hamal) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which is a non-bailable crime, but the police failed to incorporate the section in the case and added only bailable offences.

An FIR was lodged under sections 337 (Shajjah), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the PPC on the complaint of the victim.

According to the content of the FIR, the woman said she was a resident of Bin Qasim Town and worked as a housemaid at a flat in the building where her son, Sohail, had arrived on August 5 to give her food items, but he was stopped by some union members of the building.

She added that as she protested over her son not being allowed to enter the building, one of the union members, Adil, misbehaved with her and directed security guard Daud to deal with her, after which he hit her. She said she was six months pregnant and fell unconscious after she was manhandled by the security guard.