Supreme Court rejects Rangers request for prosecution powers

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Sindh Rangers’ request for powers to investigate and prosecute suspects, register First information Reports (FIRs) and set up police stations in the province.

The apex court said it cannot pass an order granting the paramilitary force these powers because it was not in its jurisdiction to do so. The five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, observed that a legislative intervention was required to grant Rangers the powers it had sought from the court.

Earlier this week, in a report submitted to the Karachi registry of the SC, Rangers had requested for the said powers, claiming the provincial government and police were under pressure and were ‘slowing down action against facilitators of criminal activity.’

The Rangers’ counsel had cited an example of the provincial government’s incompetence, claiming that a key suspect involved in the Safoora Goth attack had been captured in 2011 but was later released.

The Sindh Police Inspector General also presented a performance report of his department, which was appreciated by the court.

The police chief claimed from a total of 458 ‘undetected cases,’ 158 cases had been reopened, of which, 67 had been detected. Appreciating the police’s effort, the bench directed continuation of the exercise.