[Dawn] Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday set aside a lower court`s dismissal of a complaint of incest of a girl against her father and ordered the SHO Golra Police Station to register her complaint, probe the allegation and report to the court.In passing the order on the petition of the 18-year-old girl NS, Justice Rehman said it was inappropriate to initiate an inquiry and conduct medical tests before registering the FIR.
Additional Sessions Judge Syed Wajahat Hasan had dismissed the same petition of NS on June 29, declaring the matter a family dispute.
SHO Golra Qasim Khan Niazi said he would register an FIR as directed by the IHC.
Police said NS had approached Golra Police Station on June 8 with her complaint of incest and murderous attempt by her father LA who was incarcerated. Since medical tests did not establish rape, he was tried for admitting to murderous intent and was sentenced to 15 days imprisonment, according to a police officer.
Advocate Arif Ali, counsel for the accused father LA, denied the charge levelled against his client and told the IHC single bench that LA had fixed the marriage of NS with the son of his brother but the girl was interested in someone else.
According to him, medical reports of the girl did not support her allegations while report of her DNA test was still awaited and therefore, the court may wait for the results before passing an order.
Deputy Attorney General Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, who appeared on behalf of Islamabad Police and apprised the court of police inquiry, prayed for dismissal of the petition at an early stage.
Petitioner NS` counsel, Saeed Khursheed Ahmed Panuhan, however argued that police initiated the inquiry "without the orders of a competent authority".
Chief Justice Rehman observed that the matter was very serious in nature and must be dealt in accordance with the established principles of law.
Lawyer Panuhan also cast doubts on authenticity of DNA test by saying that police had sent "dubious samples" for the test which, in any case, should have been done after the registration of FIR.
LA twice raped his daughter NS and been trying to dodge the law by producing fake medical reports in the court that he was incapable of having sex, the lawyer alleged.
He also accused LA and his brother of issuing threats to his client and the area police of refusing to register her complaint.
There was sufficient incriminating material to connect the accused with the commission of offence under section 376 and 324 PPC, the lawyer argued.
Civil society activists attended the court proceedings to express sympathy with the girl petitioner.
After the proceedings, LA alleged to Dawn that his daughter fabricated the incest charge, with the rest of the family, after he caught her in an illicit relationship with a son-in-law of his with the initial `N`.
Actually N planned to get him killed, using his son, to inherit about 10 kanals of land that he owned in F-12 and F-13 sectors, LA charged.