ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered action against police officials for negligence in a case pertaining to alleged rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl, Farishta, in Islamabad, according to a statement issued from his office.
The prime minister ordered registration of cases against concerned station house officer (SHO) and other relevant officials, and departmental proceedings be initiated and finalised at the earliest; while the SDPO be placed under suspension and SP of the zone be made OSD till finalisation of judicial inquiry.
“It is a failure of system that police staff forced the children of affected family to clean their offices. Departmental proceedings be initiated against the perpetrators and finalised expeditiously,” the statement said.
“Police claims that SOPs have been created for crimes against children after Kasur incident. The said SOPs were found to be inoperative / deficient in this case,” it observed, ordering the inspector general (IG) and deputy inspector general (DIG) to furnish an explanation.
“IG and DIG to explain as to why no system was in place to highlight child-related crimes and also explain the overall failure of system to affect speedy justice to the bereaved family,” the statement, a copy of which was sent to the interior secretary, read.
“The prime minister has further directed that daily updates on progress on the above directives and investigations be submitted for information of the prime minister,” it added.
Farishta’s body was discovered from forest two days ago and later shifted to the Poly Clinic for post-mortem. Her family, which belongs to Mohmand Agency, said they had tried to file a missing person report with the police on May 15, but it took police until May 19 to register the FIR and, even then, a proper search was not initiated.
The minor girl’s body was later discovered by locals who subsequently informed the police.
An FIR had been lodged against the station house officer (SHO) Shahzad Town and other policemen for negligence in the case.
The FIR registered by Farishta’s father, Ghulam Nabi, states the family visited the police station for the registration of a missing complaint. However, the SHO instead of looking for the girl, alleged that she had run away with someone. Instead of registering the FIR, police officials had the police station cleaned, the FIR states.
It calls for action against the SHO and other officials involved for criminal negligence.
Meanwhile, police have arrested a close relative of Farishta but did not provide further details. They say that the scope of the investigation has been widened.
