LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan has taken strict notice of the prize money announced for policemen over arresting the prime suspect in the motorway gangrape incident.
Justice Qasim Khan remarked that it was the responsibility of law-enforcement agencies to control crime and arrested the culprits. Expressing his displeasure, the chief justice said police officers will now perform their duty for getting prizes.
“Children are being raped and culprits are moving freely. Police was unable to arrest Abid Malhi. Is it not the police’s duty to arrest suspects? The court will not spare anybody involved in negligence,” he said, adding that a new custom has been started by the Punjab government.
He said the Punjab government can patronise the police force but the judiciary will not. He said the police cannot safeguard the streets and sexual assault and gangrape cases were rampant.
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar had announced prize money of five million rupees for the police after Abid Ali Malhi was arrested in Faisalabad after one month on the run. He also expressed satisfaction over the performance of police in the case.
Yesterday, the Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended a directive banning coverage of the motorway gang-rape case in the media.
LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan passed the orders while hearing a petition filed by a private television channel challenging a ban on the coverage of motorway gang-rape incident in electronic media.
The petitioner’s counsel argued before the court that the PEMRA had placed a ban in compliance with an order passed by an anti-terrorism court on an application by the investigating team of the incident.
He submitted that the ban was in clear violation of Article-19 of the Constitution, which guaranteed freedom of speech and press. He pleaded with the court to set aside the ban imposed by the PEMRA on coverage of the incident.
The court observed that the media could report the case proceedings as a ban could not be placed in accordance with the right to information. However, the court barred the media from broadcasting photos of the suspect, victim and their families.
