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SHC hands over girl’s custody to father

KARACHI- The Sindh High Court (SHC) handed over the custody of a girl, the sole witness in a murder case, to her father. She had earlier allegedly been kept in confinement by her employer’s family.

Ghulam Hussain moved the SHC seeking custody of his 12-year-old daughter Sobia, alleging that his daughter was kept by one Mohsin at a flat near Khada market, DHA phase-V. The petitioner alleged that Mohsin had kept his daughter unlawfully and wanted to marry with his daughter and on refusal he shifted her to another place.

The court had ordered the District and Sessions Court South to raid the house of Mohsin for the recovery of the girl but the judicial officer who raided the house was told that Mohsin along with the girl had gone to Sukkur and he was assured that they will be produced before the court.

The girl was produced before SHC’s single bench comprising Justice Mrs Qaiser Iqbal by one Farhan, a relative of Mohsin. Farhan’s counsel Aziz Khan told the court that Sobia was working at the residence of his mother-in-law Naheed Gohar who was killed by Qaiser Abbas and Saleem Abbas – brothers of Sobia.

As she was the solitary witness of the crime, he said that her statement was also recorded by the judicial magistrate. On a court query, Sobia said that she had left with the family of Farhan for Sukkur on her own will and without any compulsion for the reason that she may not change her statement at subsequent stage whereby she implicated her own brothers in the murder case.

Disposing of the application, the court handed over the custody of the girl to her father with the direction that he should take all possible steps to safeguard her custody and restrained her family from torturing her.

SHC summons home secretary: The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued a notice to the home secretary on the petition of a transport company, seeking the proper allocation of land at the intercity bus terminal in Baldia Town.

The Sada Bahar Transport Company submitted that it was not being provided alternate land by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) at the intercity bus terminal in Baldia Town.

The District Officer Transport informed the court that the officials concerned had failed to shift the bus terminal due to encroachments and requested the court to direct the Home Department to assist in this regard with the police force to solve the problem.

The SHCÂ’s division bench observed that public interest was involved in the matter and directed the home secretary to appear in person on September 24.

report sought on medical treatment of Khairpur prison inmates: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed on Wednesday the superintendent of the Khairpur prison to submit a fresh report regarding the medical treatment of prisoners suffering from Hepatitis B and C.

The SHC’s division bench was hearing a suo moto reference regarding the provision of medical treatment for under trial prisoners (UTPs) suffering from Hepatitis B and C at the Khairpur prison.

The court observed that several steps had been taken to ensure the proper treatment of affected UTPs. Issuing a notice to the Khairpur prison superintendent, the court directed him to submit a fresh report.

the Khairpur prison superintendent had sent a reference to the SHC informing the court that in October 2006, blood samples of prisoners were collected in which test reports of about 135 prisoners were found positive.

The SHC had converted the report into a petition observing that taking care of the health and well-being of prisoners was the responsibility of the state.

show-cause notices issued: The Judicial Magistrate (JM), South, Khwaja Ashraf Hussain, issued show-cause notices to the Investigation Officer to produce three witnesses in the court at the next date of hearing (October 17) in the Agha Javed Pathan case. the latter pertains to the possession of illegal arms 13-D and the recovery of narcotics and others pertaining to throwing a shoe at the former Chief Minister (CM) Arbab Ghulam Rahim.

Pathan was arrested by the Preedy Police in three different cases, of which two pertain to 13-d possession of illegal arms and narcotics. The third case was related to the recovery of a pistol from his possession during interrogation. He was, however, released on bail.

Haj operators’ case: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the federal law officer to produce the entire record pertaining to the allocation of Haj quota, policy and all relevant documents including reservation for armed forces.

The court also asked the government counsel to produce documents on the basis of which Haj quota of certain tour operators has been increased while the same has been decreased for other tour operators for the year.

The court was hearing identical petitions of Al-Khair Service, Al-Zaitoon and Al-Barakh who challenged the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ action of reducing their allocated Haj quota by 50 percent.

The petitioners’ counsel submitted that the respondentÂ’s August 31 notification regarding reduction of Haj operators’ quota by 50 percent was issued without giving any opportunity to the petitioners for explanation. They said the impugned notification was arbitrary and unjust and prayed the court to set aside the notification and restore the allocated Haj quota of the petitioners.

As the matter was taken up by the SHC division bench comprising Justice Mohammad Athar Saeed and Justice Dr. Qamaruddin Bohra, the deputy attorney general assured the court that all the record would be collected from Islamabad and brought to Karachi on the next date of hearing.

Adjourning the matter till September 23, the court directed that either the secretary or the deputy or the joint secretary with due instruction shall appear on the next date of hearing and answer the queries of the court.

The court also observed that if there was any difference between the list of already allocated quota and total quota available to government in respect of Haj group operators, the same shall not be given to any person till the next date of hearing. The court also continued the interim order that restrained the respondent from taking any adverse action against the petitioners.
Source: The News
Date:9/18/2008