The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday directed city authorities to crackdown on motorists without a driving licence.

The court issued the directives while hearing a petition filed by a suspect involved in the deaths of six members of a family in a road accident.

Six members of a family, including two minor children, were killed in a fatal road accident in the Lahore’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on Sunday. Police said a speeding car driven by a teenage boy led to the accident, which claimed the lives of six members of a family who were going back to their home after meeting their relatives.

Police lodged a case against the driver, teenager Afnan Shafqat, on the complaint of head of the family, Rafaqat Ali, who was traveling in another car at the time of the incident.

Subsequently, police also added terrorism and murder charges to the first information report (FIR) against the suspect. Rafaqat had alleged that the suspect was not alone when he “deliberately” hit his family’s car.

Kahna Circle DSP Raja Fakhar told Dawn on Thursday that according to Rafaqat , the suspect had allegedly harassed the female members of his family [prior to the incident] when they were going back to their home after meeting a close relative.

During today’s hearing, Lahore Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Capt (retd) Mustansir Feroz and Acting SSP Operations (Lahore) Furqan Bilal appeared in line with the previous directives issued by the court.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Ali Zia Bajwa termed the car accident a “very sad event”. He observed that if there were a million cars on the roads, only 0.2 motorists had licences.

At this, the Lahore CTO informed the court that according to the records, there were 7.3m cars but only 1.3m motorists had licences.

The judge then asked the officials what action the had police taken against unlicensed drivers. “What action was taken after the (aforementioned) incident took place?” Justice Bajwa asked.

At this, CTO Feroz told the judge that a crackdown was under way against underage and unlicensed drivers for the past three days.

“If someone is stopped by the traffic police, the person says he is a lawyer or the son of a judge, or related to the SSP,” the judge remarked. “Action against them should be non-discriminatory,” he observed.

Justice Bajwa said that such incidents were more prevalent in the city’s posh areas. “What action are you taking against people who allow minor children to drive cars?” he asked the CTO.

At this, the traffic officer said that there was a law in place and action was taken against such people. He said 999 cases had been registered against motorists diving vehicle without a licence.

“Those driving without a licence should be arrested,” the judge said as he order the officials to crackdown on such individuals. “No one should come onto the roads without a licence,” the judge directed, ordering the officials to take indiscriminate action in this regard.

At one point, the suspect’s lawyer Advocate Irfan Hayat urged the court to provide legal protection for his client. The counsel informed the court that terrorism provisions had been added to the FIR against the suspect.

The court sought a response from the Lahore police on the suspect’s petition. The court also issued notices to the excise department and directed the CTO and SSP operations to submit detailed reports at the next hearing.

The court order issued after the hearing, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, said, “A motor vehicle driven by a person having no driver’s licence is a ‘killing machine’ on the road and such driver is a ‘killer on the road’ and there is a mandatory duty on the quarters concerned to prevent such illegality.”

The order said that saving the life of citizens was the state’s duty and any “slackness” in this regard would amount to violating the “constitutional and statutory mandate”.

The order noted the figures quoted by the Lahore CTO about the number of licensed drivers, saying: “It is an alarming state of affairs which persuades this court to issue a direction to the quarters concerned to immediately prevent such a glaring illegality.”

At the same time, it said that no citizen should be unduly harassed under the guise of such action. It also sought a report from the Motor Vehicle Registration Authority regarding the procedure and conditions of registering a motor vehicle. The hearing was adjourned till November 21.