Through this constitutional petition under Article 199 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, the petitioner being aggrieved of order dated 17.04.2012 passed by Ex-Officio Justice of Peace, Kharian (Gujrat) seeks for registration of a criminal case against Respondents No, 4 to 7 and their unknown cronies.
2. A report has been submitted on behalf of the respondent SHO which reveals that the petitioner is habitually involved in different cases of narcotics and that she had been convicted/sentenced more than once in the said cases. It is further learnt from this report that the petitioner had filed the instant petition with rnala fide intention and with a concocted version.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the application moved by the petitioner under Section 22-A, 22-B, Cr.P.C., categorically disclosed commission of a cognizable offence but Ex- Officio Justice of Peace did not attend to the said aspect of the case and passed the impugned order merely on whimsical reasons; Respondents No, 3 to 5 are the police officials and committed the crime in the company of 10/11 unknown aides with the active connivance/abetment of Respondent No, 6; the impugned order has been passed in a mechanical manner without application of judicious mind and it causes annoyance and frustration to the petitioner.
4. Learned AAG opposes with the contention that the petitioner is a mischief monger and a habitual offender besides being a convict in a couple of cases or narcotics; the husband of the petitioner was a notorious dry; paddler who had the history of involvement in as many as 14 cases of drugs etc. and he had been convicted/sentenced in almost every such case; the comments submitted by the respondent-SHO reveal that the occurrence alleged by the petitioner had not taken place and she concocted a baseless assertion in a bid to involve the respondent police officials in a false case. He however admits that a cognizable offence appears to have been made out from the contents of the application submitted by the petitioner under Sections 22-A, 22-B, Cr.P.C. before the Ex-Officio Justice of Peace, Kharian.
5. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and perusing the record, it is observed that the petitioner moved an application under Section 22-A, 22-B, Cr.P.C. with the allegation that respondent police officials with a criminal intent trespassed into her house, ransacked it, and looted the property lying therein besides committing violence upon the inmates of the house of the petitioner. The aforesaid allegations apparently constitute cognizable offences which warrant that a criminal case be registered against the persons complained against so that the matter be investigated in accordance with law. So far as the contention of learned AAG that the petitioner is a habitual offender or she had been convicted in a couple of cases is concerned, it does not mean that she had lest the right of living peacefully or that she could be dealt with unlawfully by the police. The circumstances mentioned in her application (Annexure A) lead to believe that cognizable offence(s) had been committed by the respondents. The text of the application certainly merits a serious inquiry/investigation which can only be done after rendering the statement of the petitioner into an FIR. The Ex-Officio Justice of Peace does not appear to have taken into consideration the subject matter of the application of the petitioner and he, having been swa yed away by a negative report submitted by the police, passed the impugned order, dismissing the application-of the petitioner. Commission of a cognizable offence ought to result into registration of a case as enunciated under Section 154, Cr.P.C. Reliance is placed on Muhammad Bashir's case (PLD 2007 SC 539).
6. For the foregoing reasons, the instant petition is allowed in terms that the respondent DPO shall ensure an action against the delinquent persons/officials in the light of the observations, made hereinabove, within a week from today and a compliance report in this regard shall be submitted by him to this Court through the learned AAG of this Court.