KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has observed that the act of holding jirgas and passing orders for payment or giving daughters in lieu thereof was a denial to guarantee provided by the Constitution.

`The act of holding `Jirgas` and passing order(s) therein for payment of amount or giving daughters in lieu thereof was/is primafacie a denial to guarantee provided by Article-4 of Constitution which otherwise has been guarded jealously, therefore, the law should not have taken so much time in taking necessary legal action as has been done in the instant matter,` ruled Justice Salahuddin Panwhar.

Article 4 of the Constitution deals with right of individuals to be dealt with in accordance with law.

The bench directed the inspector general of police to submit details of jirgas held over the past five years in Sindh.

It also ordered the IGP to ensure compliance with its earlier judgements against the custom of jirga and said if any jirga was conducted in any part of Sindh, the SSPs andSHOs concerned would be liable for criminal prosecution as well as department al proceedings.

These directions came during the hearing of an application in which the applicant had submitted that he had lodged an FIR at the Ferozabad police station, but police had failed to arrest the accused and filed an A-class report.

The bench further said that directions had already been issued to district and sessions judges for compliance with these judgements.

Therefore, they must also ensure that magistrates concerned would be competent to issue notices to the SSPs and SHOs concerned if the illegal practice of jirga was continuing in any area of the prov-ince, it added.

It also directed the IGP to ensure that witness protection programme to be implemented in high-profile cases and to arrange at least one month digital forensic training course for the police officials/officers, working in investigation wing of police, on divisionallevel across the province.

Referring to the Nasrullah case (PLD 2016 Sindh) and earlier dire ctions of the SHC, the bench further asked the IGP to submit complete details of absconding accused persons on a division-wise basis before the next hearing.

It directed the member inspection (II) of SHC to call for reports from all criminal courts with regard to dormant file cases anddetails of witnesses who had failed to appear in heinous crimes as well as action taken against them.

At the outset of hearing, an amicus curiae pointed out that despite judgements passed by the SHC in the cases of Rehmat Bibi and another versus SHO Karan Sharif and Wadero Mohabat Khan Khoso versus State, both reported in 2016, the custom of jirga was still continuing in the upper Sindh The amicus curiae added that SSPs concerned were liable to be prosecutedin thisregard.

The amicus curiae also informed the bench that according a report published in this newspaper on April 15, a jirga had been held in district Jacobabad. The bench noted that directions had alreadybeen communicated to the authorities concerned for implementation of both judgements about jirga.

Thus, it issued a show-cause notice to the SSP-Jacobabad to explain as to why he had failed to lodge a criminal case against the persons who had conducted and participated in the jirga.

In the light of directives issued on a previous hearing, the counsel for Karachi University sought time to submit a fresh report with regard to establishment of technical forensic labs and decision taken by a committee formed on direction of the court.

Adjourning the hearing till May 17, the bench also directed the IGP to ensure a serious campaign against drug and gutka mafias.