Justice Ali Zia Bajwa of the Lahore High Court (LHC) criticized the Kasur police on Monday for disseminating a video that showed individuals being arrested at a dance party, saying that such behavior was “unacceptable in any society.”
On April 4, Kasur’s Mustafabad police conducted a raid on a farmhouse close to Pakki Havali hamlet, where they detained 30 men and 25 women on suspicion of using drugs, loudspeakers, and obscene dancing.
But the following day, a local court ordered the suspects’ freedom and dismissed them from the case. Five police officers were subsequently suspended by Kasur District Police Officer (DPO) Essa Khan Sukhera for distributing a video of the detained criminals.
A lawyer named Vishal Shakir filed a contempt motion against the Kasur DPO today, accusing them of breaking previous court orders that forbade photographing detainees. Justice Bajwa resumed hearing the case today.
In accordance with its order from April 11, DPO Khan came before the court during the hearing.
Three of the suspended officers were then given notices by the judge: Constable Nadeem Nagi, Sub-inspector Muhammad Sadiq, and Station House Officer (SHO) Saqlain Bukhari.
Justice Bajwa had prohibited public officials from disclosing under-trial or detained detainees to media publicity in December 2023.
The police had denied in a news release that they had taken any footage of the suspects or released it in their “official capacity.”
Hearing “DPO, sir, what did you do about this? The video went viral.” Bajwa, the judge, inquired. “You inquired about the police officer’s bravery in removing the girl’s hair and filming it.”
“This is a very unfortunate incident; the concerned police officers have been dismissed from their job,” the Kasur DPO retorted.
He added that social media had been used to promote the event and that it was not a private gathering.
Justice Bajwa retorted, “What these police officers did is unacceptable in any society.”
He also questioned the DPO on his ability to prevent a recurrence of this kind of scenario.
“I fired the officer within 48 hours of the incident, and I promise that this won’t happen in my district again,” the DPO stated.
He added that the people who planned the dance party were in contact with the concerned SHO. “The SHO notified the party organizers prior to the raid.”
On the next hearing date, Justice Bajwa requested that the SHO send his superintendent of police in lieu of appearing in court.
The Punjab prosecutor general told the court, “When police create TikTok videos of the suspects, they sabotage the prosecution of the case.”
The Punjab advocate general was ordered by Justice Bajwa to appear in court as well.
Justice Bajwa stated, “The advocate general should help the court determine whether any country has a law about exposing the accused in this way.”
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