Over faulty investigation in alleged assassination of Bradford biochemist, Farooq Ali, 44, who found dead in his room at the Ramada by Wyndham Islamabad hotel on March 16, Islamabad High Court Friday issued notices to three police officials as accused persons in the matter.
Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued notices after hearing arguments of Advocate Sharafat Ali Chaudhry who appeared before the court on behalf of a UK-AJK national Dr. Rehiana B. Ali and her septuagenarian parents who are running from pillar to post for justice over death of their son.
Station House Officer (SHO) Secretariat police station Qurban Ali Anwar failed to register First Information Report (FIR) of this congnizable offence to which Dr Rhiana invoked the jurisdiction of trial court under Section 22-A of the Criminal Procedure Code and sought direction for registration of FIR. Despite registration of the FIR No. 204 in April 11 this year under Sections 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code in response to the trial court directions, the police failed to conduct the investigation properly as failed to collect evidence properly without apprehending and investigating the nominated accused persons so far.
Upon failure of the police in the matter, again the petitioner filed a complaint under Section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Code before trial court to adjudicate the case but the Additional District & Session Judge dismissed the complaint in October 22.
Filing criminal revision petition before the IHC against impugned order of Additional District & Session Judge, Advocate Chaudhry urged the high court to set aside the session judge dismissal and issue directives to adjudicate the case on merit in the large interest of justice.
At the outset of the hearing, the counsel submitted in response to query of the Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir saying inefficient investigation in determining the cause of death of Farooq Ali and inadequate postmortem led the petitioner to invoke the jurisdiction of the trial court to take cognizance.
After a brief hearing, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir issued notices to three police officials who have been made accused persons in the petition namely, Tariq Mehmood, Sub-Inspector/I.O, P.S. Secretariat, Islamabad Police, Qurban Ali Anwar, S.H.O, Secretariat Police Station, Islamabad Police and Akram Nagra, Inspector, Islamabad Police in the matter for November 28.
It is pertinent to mention that Bradford West MP Naz Shah held a press conference last week alongside Mr Ali’s sister Yasmin and brother and sister-in-law Yusuf and Abda.
Yasmin has been reported saying “We’ve pushed the police, we’ve been at the police station, we’re not getting any answers,”.
