PESHAWAR: Police will continue to take action against land mafia and criminals whose cases are not being heard by courts; however, they will avoid meddling in subjudice matters, an official said on Sunday.
The official added that the Peshawar High Court (PHC) barred the police from interfering in subjudice cases. During the hearing of a writ petition, a division bench of the PHC recently directed the police not to harass people whose cases are pending before civil courts.
The PHC bench made it clear that institutions should work within their jurisdiction.
A police official said the cops respected courts and would never interfere in their work.
He said police would take action against those whose cases were not subjudice in a bid to avert any law and order situation. Also, he added, the actions started from going after the land mafia that had a criminal record, and later, more people started approaching the cops against criminals who grabbed their land, houses, or money.
The official said that many of the cases are being referred to dispute resolution councils, while some are sent to the local police after complainants, including widows, orphans, and others, approach the police.
Senior officials have also warned the junior officers and staff of offices and police stations after some allegations of getting favours from one or the other party in cases sent to them by the capital city police officer and senior superintendent of police operations.
Actions were taken against some station house officers and others recently while more are to face music as they are being watched.
In the last seven months, over 3300 people have approached the capital city police officer against land grabbers and rivals in property and financial disputes.
The cops started receiving complaints after actions against land mafia and other gangs that were operating in Peshawar for the last many years. Police in other regions and districts also developed a system to receive such complaints in land and financial disputes and address the issues against mafias and other criminals.
An official said the cops in Peshawar have received 3356 applications against land mafias, criminals, rivals, partners, and other people in financial, property, and family disputes since the last week of August last year.
Of these, 1143 applications were regarding land disputes, while 1044 people have approached the force for settling their financial disputes.
The police record stated that 366 applications were received in family disputes, while 803 people approached the force in various other kinds of disputes.
Among the six divisions of the Peshawar Police, the Cantt division has received the highest number of applications, 927, in these disputes, followed by 748 in Faqirabad, 735 in Rural, 428 in Saddar, 270 in Warsak, and 248 in the City division. Apart from applications against mafias and criminals, a number of complaints are also against relatives, partners, and other people.
Police recently said 795 cases of land disputes have been addressed so far, and over 31,000 marlas of land have been handed over to the real owners from the land mafia and other people after a proper probe in these cases
Besides, police officials said, an amount of Rs1.706 billion has been returned to the real owners in different parts of Peshawar in financial disputes in the last seven months. As many as 315 family disputes and 632 cases of various nature have also been settled in seven months, officials said.
