SC admonishes police for delay in girl's recovery

ISLAMABAD (APP) - A two-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has ordered IGP/PPO Punjab to produce a missing girl Nadia Mushtaq on Dec 2. The bench in its order expressed dismay over functioning of police and warned that high officials would be held responsible personally for failure in recovering the girl. Justice Ch Ijaz Ahmed was the other member of the bench. According to details, Nadia Mushtaq went missing from Rawalpindi three years ago. The chief justice had referring the matter to the District and Sessions Judge Rawalpindi for a probe into the case. The bench referring to a report submitted by the District and Sessions Judge Rawalpindi, said according to the report the police officials who had been arrested on October 8, were not held responsible for addressing a fake letter to the SS Operation, Rawalpindi. The Sessions Judge in his report also submitted that Malik Muhammad Nawaz SI and Muhammad Riaz Sangah accused in the case were admitted to ad-interim pre-arrest bail on October 14 and availed the concession till October 16, 2009. In his opinion, the above-mentioned police officials were responsible for gorging the subsequent proceedings. The bench further observed that it was interesting to note that on the basis of fake letter a number of agencies were involved under fictitious claim that Nida Mushtaq had been taken to Sindh after her abduction. As per the report of the District and Sessions Judge the move was nothing but a device to misguide. The court, in its order, asked for strict action against those involved in forging the letter. The IGP instead of advancing the cause of justice by extending cooperation had submitted a report requesting the trial court to dispose of the case, the bench observed. The bench expressed its astonishment that instead of moving against the accused and others who were responsible for the girls abduction, as per the courts order, efforts were made to give a new twist to the case.

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