LAHORE: Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Usman Anwar told the Lahore High Court on Wednesday that show-cause notices had been issued to around 11,800 investigating officers (IOs) and meetings had been continuously held over the past few days to trace and compile challans of 150,000 cases.

The IGP personally appeared before the court after Chief Justice Aalia Neelum rejected a police report on non-submission of challans in over 300,000 cases.

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The chief justice expressed her concern over the missing details of cases closed on the basis of reconciliation due to the delay in submitting challans to the trial courts.

The IGP stated that there had been a 46 per cent increase in the registration of cases over the past year-and-a-half, with 75,000 cases of electricity theft registered last year.

He requested the court to issue a directive to consolidate the records of the police, Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and the prosecution department.

The chief justice said this was not the court’s responsibility.

She also expressed concern at nonavailability of the police records from 2017 onwards, which the court summoned at the previous hearing.

Dr Anwar assured the court that a comprehensive report would be submitted within two weeks.

He also mentioned that each investigating officer has to deal with 60 cases annually, to which the chief justice said it should not be difficult for an IO to submit challans on a daily basis.

The CJ observed that the case registration system should be linked to a computerised system.

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Bail denied: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday denied post-arrest bail to Amna Arooj, the key woman suspect involved in alleged honey-trapping and kidnapping of playwright Khalilur Rehman Qamar.

Judge Khalid Arshad announced the dismissal order after hearing arguments from the lawyers of both – the petitioner and the complainant.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that since his client had been sent on judicial remand, she was no longer required for investigation by the police. He said there was no legal justification to keep her behind bars.

The lawyer further argued that there was no evidence against the petitioner, as she did not abduct the playwright nor demanded any ransom from him.

He asked the court to release the petitioner on bail.

Opposing the bail, the complainant’s lawyer stated that the woman did not deserve the relief of bail at this stage of the case as she was a prime suspect.

He said two other main suspects – Hassan Shah and Rafiq alias Feeqi – were still on physical remand.

Denying the police story, Arooj alleged that Shah and Qamar blackmailed her, in fact. She said Shah, who was like a brother to her, knew about Qamar’s blackmailing.

Arooj claimed that both men were powerful, and she got trapped between them. She also alleged that Shah leaked a video wherein Qamar was insisting on a relationship with her.

In this case, nine other suspects are in judicial lockup. They are Tanveer Ahmed, Qaiser Abbas, Rasheed Ahmad, Falak Sher, Mian Khan, Yasir Ali, Javed Iqbal, Zeeshan Qayum and Mamoon Haider.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2024