PESHAWAR, May 9: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday sought comments from the inspector-general of police and senior superintendent of police, Peshawar, in a writ petition filed against two station house officers for having booked a citizen in fake drug trafficking cases.

The petitioner, Qazi Gohar Rehman, claimed that he had been twice booked in fake cases at the instigation of his rivals.

After hearing arguments of petitioner’s counsel Mian Muhibullah Kakakhel, the bench comprising Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Malik Hamid Saeed decided to seek comments from the police high-ups.

The petitioner’s counsel stated that on May 24, 1999, Inspector Nasir Hussain registered an FIR against his client on the charge of drug pushing. He added that during investigation his client was found innocent and was subsequently acquitted by the trial court.

The counsel stated that the petitioner had filed an application for taking departmental action against the said inspector, but no action was taken.

Mr Kakakhel stated that on Feb 22, 2001, another cooked-up case was registered, this time by Inspector Fareed Bangash. He said the crimes branch police conducted an inquiry and exonerated his client of the charge.

The lawyer requested the court to direct the police authorities for registration of cases against the two SHOs and to take departmental action against them.

EXPLANATION: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday sought explanation from officials of the Punjab police in a petition challenging the arrest and shifting of a citizen of Mardan to Punjab without fulfilling the legal requirements.

Advocate Bashir Tanghi appeared before a division bench and contended that the petitioner, Haji Yar Mullah, was arrested by the Kasur police on Jan 24, 2000, and shifted to Punjab without informing the provincial government and fulfilling the legal requirements.

The counsel added that when a habeas corpus petition was filed before the high court the detainee was released on Feb 5, 2000.

He argued that the present petition had been pending since then and the petitioner had been praying the court to register a case against the officials of the Kasur police. He said that the Punjab police had no authority to conduct raids in the NWFP.