The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday declared Faisalabad City Police Officer (CPO) Rai Tahir ineligible and ordered the Punjab government, chief secretary and the inspector general of police to examine his involvement in favouring an influential person accused of murder, and also appoint a new CPO in his place.
A two-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain also ordered investigations and strict legal action against the CPO.
The bench was hearing a suo motu case on the killing of a 12-year-old child in Gulberg, Faisalabad, due to aerial firing in a marriage ceremony. Appearing on notice, Attorney General Moulvi Anwarul Haq told the court that under the Islamic injunctions the amount of blood money was 30,630 carrots silver, which is equivalent to Rs 3.2 million. He said that in case of a compromise or reprisal, the determination of the amount should be left on the parties. The chief justice noted that negotiations between the parties did not seem appropriate because the rich party would pressurise the poor party. He said that Islam provided balance. He reprimanded the Faisalabad CPO for not helping the parents of the deceased child in the payment of blood money, and succumbing to pressure from a local member of Punjab Assembly (MPA). He said that instead of taking legal action against the accused without any discrimination, the police officers were bent on saving their jobs.
The chief justice said that police did not record the statement of the MPA who was exerting pressure on the poor parents of the assassinated child. When the CPO tried to seek an apology, the chief justice replied that a poor person had been deprived of his child who will never come back, then how the court could accept his apology.
