The chief justice of the Lahore High Court has ordered a review of interviews of Lahore police chief Umer Shaikh over his remarks against the judiciary, wherein he implicitly blamed the courts for an increase in the crime rate.
Reacting to the statement of the CCPO Shaikh in which he said the criminals detained by the police were given bail by the courts, the chief justice said the suspects are granted bail in line with the constitution. He said such statements by CCPO Shaikh were akin to committing contempt of court and asked the Punjab advocate general to give details of his interviews in 15 days.
He said the Lahore police chief boasted that he would curb the crime rate in the provincial capital in three months, but it seems the robberies and streets crimes are on the rise despite his posting.
He further added that the courts will not tolerate unfounded criticism by the police officer and if he has a complaint against the bail granted to the accused, he could approach the relevant forum in this regard.
This is not the first time that Sheikh has made headlines for all the wrong reasons as soon after his posting, he had landed in hot water for victim-blaming after the horrific motorway gang-rape incident. The Lahore CCPO had remarked that the rape survivor should have been more careful and taken a safer route.
In Sept, a trainee sub-inspector Fahad Iftikhar Virk submitted his resignation after he was abused by CCPO Umer Sheikh for speaking in English.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Shoaib Dastgir was also removed amid much controversy after a standoff with Sheikh after the latter asked his subordinates to ignore the IG’s order.
