LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday set aside an order by a district court that had directed the police to register a criminal case against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and officials of the Punjab police for allegedly using violence against lawyers to stop them from joining PTI’s long march on May 25.
In response to a petition submitted against the government high-ups, Additional District and Sessions Judge Mian Mudasar Umar Bodla had directed the Bhati Gate Police Station SHO to register a criminal case against the interior minister, Lahore CCPO, DIG Operations, among others. It had asked the police to proceed against the accused under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
However, the order of the district was challenged in the high court and was subsequently set aside by the bench.
In the appeal against the order, the petitioner said the district court did not fulfill legal requirements and asked the LHC to declare the order void. The high court set aside the order and sought a response from the authorities concerned.
On June 1, the district court ordered the registration of a criminal case against Rana Sanaullah and police officials for the alleged torture of lawyers during PTI’s long march on May 25.
The petitioner had maintained that the police tortured lawyers on the orders of Sanaullah and sought registration of a case against the interior minister, CCPO Lahore, DIG operations Lahore, SP Esa Sukheri (North Cantt Lahore), SP Waqar Azeem Kharal, DSP Akber Ali, SHO Asad Abbas and others.
The court order had stated that the petitioner and his colleagues were boarding their vehicle when they were pulled over by the police.
It had noted that the petitioners were “baton-charged, humiliated, disgraced and their vehicle was damaged badly” even though they were cooperating with law enforcers. –Agencies
