SHC summons Sindh police chief, prosecutor general tomorrow.

KARACHI -- The Sindh High Court on Wednesday directed the inspector general of police and Sindh prosecutor general to appear in person before the bench on March 17 and explain as to why their respective departments continue to defy court's orders.

The SHC took exception over the absence of investigating officers (IOs) and SHOs as well as inability of the office of the prosecutor general (PG) to assist the court in most of the cases and lack of coordination between both departments.

While hearing a bail application, a single-judge bench headed by Justice Omar Sial said that it had been issuing directives to the IOs and in some cases SHOs, but they had not been complying with such directions and remained absent and as a consequence, the PG office was unable to assist the court.

It observed that in most of the cases, the prosecution was unable to inform the court of the facts of the case causing more delay in disposal of cases.

Bench irked by lack of coordination between IOs and prosecutor

'Further, either the victim of an offence or the person accused of an offence suffers. It appears to me that the leniency of this court is being taken advantage of, by both, the prosecution and the Sindh Police,' it added.

The bench in its order also noted: 'In the last few days, several cases have come up where apathy on part of police had been more pronounced as even after several dates having been given to the prosecution to procure their attendance, the prosecution claimed that despite repeated reminders and letters to the police, the officers concerned were not turning up.'

It noted that when SHOs were directed...