SC seeks details of action against Sindh Police 'big fish'

KARACHI: The Supreme Court was informed on Wednesday that the record of over 12000 Sindh Police officers with patchy background was scrutinized to look for their involvement in crimes, ARY News reported.

Three-judge bench, comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, was hearing a suo motu case regarding the involvement of police officials in crimes including murder, robbery, and extortion.

The bench expressed displeasure over the absence of the Sindh chief secretary during the hearing and directed him to show up before it along with details of action taken against police officers in the next hearing.

The hearing was adjourned till Friday.

Sanaullah Abbasi, who headed a committee tasked to scrutinize the record of police officer with patchy background, informed that so far the record of over 12000 policemen was scrutinized, 1100 of them have been cleared whereas departmental action was recommended against around 400 policemen.

During previous hearing, Justice Gulzar Ahmed expressed dissatisfaction over the committee’s report, saying that, “the ‘big fish’, implying high-profile officials, never get trapped and the police investigation revolves around low profile personnel only.”

Justice Maqbool Baqar, another member of the bench, asserted that there is an urgency of dispelling an impression that police officials are exempted to obey the rules while urging authorities concerned for strict action.

Talking about the possibilities, the Sindh advocate general said action could be taken against officers in the police department under the Civil Servants Act.