A high-level police inquiry into the case of attempted rape of a 12-year-old boy in Tandlianwala, Faisalabad, has declared the acquittal of the suspect nominated in the initial FIR on the mediation of a ‘Jirga/Panchayat’ a sheer violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment.

The legal status of the ‘council of elders’, ‘Panchayat’ or ‘kangaroo courts’ operating as alternative to the judicial system or for mediation in tribal belts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and rural areas of Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan was challenged in the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment that appeared in January 2019.

The inquiry asked the police to challenge the acquittal of the suspect Qari Abubakar Muavia, by a magistrate after the father of the boy gave a statement in his favour.

Pakistan Peoples Party’s Member of National Assembly Abdul Qadir Patel also spoke about the case. He asked the state to be a complainant in the case if the child’s father had forgiven the alleged perpetrator on the intervention of the clerics. He also sought a proper investigation into the case.

Reinvestigation

Dawn sources have said that reinvestigation into the case was launched on the order of Inspector General Punjab Dr. Usman Anwar when Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz took notice of the incident and directed him (the IGP) to hold an impartial inquiry to know on what grounds the suspect was discharged in the case and determine the role of the police.

What happened in the court?

Qari Abubakar was discharged from the case by Tandlianwala Judicial Magistrate Nauman Tahir on March 30 when the police presented him in the court, seeking further physical remand to continue interrogating him.

The complainant along with his son also appeared and submitted a written statement that he got his FIR lodged on the basis of ‘suspicion’ against Mawiyah during the hearing. The magistrate’s decision mentioned that the complainant had submitted an affidavit too.

“On query, the minor/victim also stated that the present accused didn’t commit the offence as mentioned in the FIR,” reads the magistrate’s decision.
Additionally, the request of the remand of the police was turned down by the court.

This complainant’s statement appeared to be the turning point that prompted the Punjab police high-ups to get the case reinvestigated as it mentioned the decision of a ‘Jirga Panchayat’, as per Dawn.

Supreme Court’s judgment

The supreme court judgment declares that the Jirgahs, Panchayats etc do not come under the Constitution or any other law whatsoever to the extent that they attempt to declare verdicts on civil or criminal matters.

An official, privy to the development, said that during the inquiry, the legal branch of the police referred to the Supreme Court’s 2019 judgment when the matter of legality of Jirgas or Kangaroo courts was raised and so it recommended to the department high-ups to issue directions to challenge the magistrate’s decision of acquittal of the suspect.

The IGP confirmed that the matter was investigated at a high level in light of the magistrate’ decision. He said he and the prosecutor general had met the victim boy and his father and discussed the issue of allegations levelled against the suspect, as per Asif Chaudhry’s report in Dawn.

Read more: Cleric allegedly rapes a boy, ‘forgiven’ after religious scholar intervenes