اردو
  • Chief justice critiques KP police's less than exemplary performance in rape, murder cases

    Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar File photo Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar

    Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday summoned Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf spokesperson Fawad Chaudhary to the Supreme Court to "witness" the proceedings of the Asma Rani murder case.

    "He [Fawad Chaudhary] keeps criticising other people and says that the Khyber Pukhtunkhawa has an exemplary police force. Let's call him to court so that he witnesses how exemplary the KP police is," the chief justice said during Tuesday's hearing on the murder of the medical student.

    "Have the phone records of the main suspect and his accomplice been recovered?" the chief justice.

    The director general of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FIA) said that it has not been confirmed if the main suspect in the case is in Dubai or in Saudi Arabia. "It seems like this man planned this whole thing; he has an iqama from Dubai as well," he told the court.

    "Have red warrants been sent out for the suspect? Can we send out the warrants?" the chief justice asked.

    In the last hearing of the case, Justice Nisar had shown great dissatisfaction at how the case was being handled by the KP police.

    "We heard tales that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police has become a lot better; what is the force doing after this girl was murdered in Kohat?" the chief justice had asked in the previous hearing, while adding that there seems to be no mechanism set for the investigation.

    Asma, a third-year student at a medical college in Abbottabad, was murdered after she refused to marry Mujahid, the prime suspect in the case, police said. She was rushed to the hospital after being shot three times on January 28, where she identified Mujahid and Sadiqullah as her assailants before succumbing to her injuries on January 29.

    Soon after the murder, police claimed that Mujahid had escaped to Saudi Arabia. Sadiqullah, however, was arrested.

    A third suspect in the case, Shahzeb, was arrested by the police on Saturday and was sent on a 14-day judicial remand by a judicial magistrate on Feb 4.

    4-year-old's rape and murder
    The chief justice expressed his dissatisfaction with the KP police for a second time on Tuesday while hearing the case regarding the grisly rape and murder of a 4-year-old girl, whose body was found in a sugarcane field in Mardan on January 14.

    "Such a terrible thing was done to the child but there has been no development in the investigations," the chief justice remarked.

    "We have not taken this suo motu case for you but for the residents [of the province]," the chief justice told Inspector General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Salahuddin Mehsood, who was present in court for the hearing.

    "It is the responsibility of the police to provide security," Chief Justice Nisar added, ordering the police to file a report in the case before the court within two weeks.

    The court also directed the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory to submit its report to the police as soon as possible.

    The hearing of the case was adjourned until Feb 21.