After observing that investigation officers do not pay heed to the identification process of alleged criminals in "actionable offences" which ultimately benefit them as they easily got bail from courts, Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) has issued a new standing order for the verification and identification of the arrested suspect(s).

Following the instruction of the IGP, an official said on Wednesday that Punjab DIG Crimes Dr Masood Saleem had formulated a new standard operating procedure (SOP) regarding handling of the arrested persons as most suspects do not carry ID cards which complicate the entire legal process. The new SOP has now been communicated to all the field police officers in both the investigation and operation wings, he added.

"Police do not give value to identification of arrested individuals in actionable offence and they get bail from courts during the hearings. Usually, the plaintiffs gave incomplete or wrong names of the accused and the investigation officers (IOs) do not pay attention to verify the true identity and residence in accordance with the CNIC which later on gives birth to different legal complications," notes the standing order.

It highlights that there are certain groups of criminals, committing inter-districts crimes, which give wrong names, addresses and provide fake CNIC to police so that they could avoid arrest in other districts, especially in those districts in which they have already been declared proclaimed offenders.

For now on, the order says, the verification of CNICs on every accused should be carried out through "Verisys System" of NADRA as the fact of carrying a fake CNIC by an accused cannot be ignored. Furthermore, the verification of documents of an accused should be scrutinized from two local prominent persons of the concerned area.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

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