Registering FIR is no joke

[LRE]

Registering FIR is no joke



Monday, July 21, 2008
By Salman Aslam

LAHORE

NON-REGISTRATION of complaints is the most common and serious grievance of the citizens which still prevails in the provincial metropolis despite tall claims of the Lahore police bosses. The refusal of the SHO of Samanabad police to register an FIR had been depriving a citizen of his basic right for the last six days.

Mohammad Asif, a resident of Jalal Din Road, Mozang, had crumbling relations with his wife Shakeela Bibi. Asif, along with his mother Ghazala Bibi, visited the house of his in-laws at New Mozang, Samanabad, on July 15, and told his father-in-law Ghulam Mohyuddin that Shakeela’s rude behaviour with his family members had forced him to get her out of his house. On this, his in-laws misbehaved with him and his mother and used abusive language against them.

Meanwhile, Asif came back home, telling his in-laws that he would have no more relations with them. After this, Asif’s father-in-law and mother-in-law Sarwar Bibi, along with other relatives, gave his mother and younger brother Kashif a good thrashing. Later, they called the police also, which took Asif and Kashif to the Samanabad Police Station at around 11:15pm. Meanwhile, Asif’s mother, a diabetic, got unconscious after being manhandled and was rushed to the Ganga Ram Hospital for treatment.

In the police station, SHO Tariq Jameel heard both parties and declared Asif’s in-laws guilty, but he asked Asif to reconcile with his in-laws and released him and his brother at 3:30am.

The next day, Asif along with notables of the area visited the police station to lodge a complaint, but the Moharrar refused to register the application and asked him to approach the SHO who did not turn up from 4:00pm to 7:00pm.

On July 17, Asif visited the police station, but nobody paid heed to his complaint. He also waited for the SHO for two hours who did not come to the police station. He kept on visiting the police station on July 18, 19 and 20, but he was not accommodated.

The deplorable part of the story was that a police official, identified as Asif, warned the complainant publicly that they should follow the SHO’s advice, otherwise, he would not only make them visit the police station again and again, but also send them to jail after implicating them in fake cases. Asif alleged that the SHO Tariq Jameel was using delaying tactics so for the benefit of the accused party as he was supporting it since the day of incident.

Interestingly, the SHO had been found missing from the police station for consecutive three days from 4pm to 7pm, although the Capital City Police Officer had strictly asked the SPs, SPOs and SHOs to be present at their offices to serve the people.

Asif has appealed to the CCPO and SSP Operations to look into the matter and direct the SHO to register a case on his complaint.

When contacted, a Samnabad police official said that an application regarding the case was received but no case had been registered so far.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=125361