Challans of 332 cases submitted in courts on LHC chief justice's orders
Pakistan
Correspondence was sent to the IG Punjab and DIG about the incompetence of officers
LAHORE (Muhammad Ashfaq) – Prosecutor General Punjab Syed Farhad Ali Shah on Thursday implemented the directive of Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Aaliya Neelum by sending the charge sheets of 332 cases to courts on applicants' petitions in the first three months of the year.
The LHC CJ had ordered that the charge sheets of all cases in Punjab should be sent to courts immediately, and special instructions were issued to Prosecutor General Punjab Shah to ensure it.
In response, the prosecutor general established a complaint cell in the prosecution office.
According to the complaint cell, complaints piled up due to investigating officers not submitting charge sheets to courts. Following this, Shah issued special orders to the district public prosecutors for addressing the complaints, and also took action against investigating officers for not submitting charge sheets to courts.
Correspondence was sent to the Punjab IGP and DIG about the incompetence of these officers.
In the case of a citizen’s body found in a canal in Layyah, local police had closed the file by declaring it a suicide. However, the complainant, Zahoor Ahmed, approached Prosecutor General Punjab Shah, stating that it was a murder disguised as suicide.
The complainant presented pictures taken after the body was recovered, which showed that the deceased's hands and feet were bound when the body was retrieved from the canal.
In light of this evidence, Shah took action, and the investigating officer admitted the mistake. Consequently, the case was reclassified as a murder, and Section 302 was added. The DSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) was instructed to reopen the investigation.
In other petitions, the applicants complained that investigating officers were not submitting charge sheets to courts. As a result, Shah took action and sent the charge sheets of 332 cases to courts, resolving the petitions.
In an exclusive conversation with Dunya News, Prosecutor General Punjab Shah stated that, in compliance with the orders of the LHC CJ, the complaint cell was established for addressing the grievances of the applicants. He noted that the highest number of complaints received were about charge sheets not being submitted, and immediate action was taken in this regard.
He said the credit went to the LHC CJ, and if she had not taken notice of the non-submission of charge sheets, millions of charge sheets would still have been lying in files.
“In the future, we will continue to follow Chief Justice Ms Aaliya Neelum's guidelines to ensure the provision of justice to the applicants,” he added.
