islamabad - Three inspector generals of police (IGPs) including IGP Punjab Mushtaq Sukhera, IGP Pakistan Railways and former IG Islamabad Khalid Khattak have challenged before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) registration of an FIR against them on the orders of an additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) in connection with violence on Constitution Avenue on August 30.
The three IGPs along with a senior superintendent of police (SSP) and deputy commissioner Islamabad Mujahid Sherdil moved the IHC through Additional Attorney General (AAG) Muhammad Waqar Rana and challenged the lower court’s September 27 order regarding registration of FIR against them that was registered on the application of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI).
A single bench of IHC will take up the petition in the week starting from Monday (today).
At least three people were killed and several others were injured in the violent clashes of PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) workers with the police when the police had been trying to stop the protesters from moving towards Prime Minister’s House from D-Chowk.
Later on September 27, deciding a PTI application moved under section 22-A and filed by the PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, an ADSJ/Justice of Peace Shahrukh Arjumand had directed the secretariat police station to register criminal cases against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Defence Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif, Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique, IGP Punjab, IGP railways, IGP and SSP Islamabad and Deputy Commissioner Mujahid Sherdil.
AAG Waqar Rana has filed the appeal on behalf of the aforementioned government functionaries while saying that the ADSJ passed the said order in the capacity of ‘justice of peace’ where he did not apply judicial mind and issued the said verdict in a mechanical manner.
He argued that under section 22-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), a justice of peace could order for the registration of FIR after a complainant proves that his case was genuine but the police declined to register the FIR.
The AAG has also challenged the vires (powers) of section 22 and contended that the judiciary and executive were separate pillars of state and a judicial officer could not pass an order against the administrative actions. He stated that the police force was there to protect the important buildings of the state and they resisted the protesters when they entered the buildings and started damaging these.
Therefore, he prayed to the court to set aside the September 27 orders of ADSJ for registration of FIR.