By: Jamal Khurshid
Karachi: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday restrained police from harassing a couple, who had married in India in 1998. Malik Mohammad Gul, who married Indian woman Shirley Ann Hodges in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, moved the court against the alleged police harassment.
The petitioner’s counsel, M Ilyas Khan, submitted that police started harassing Gul family members, including his wife, after receiving a false complaint from his in-laws through the Human Right Commission.
The counsel submitted that petitioner’s wife converted to Islam and was renamed Shabnam Gul Khan and then the couple decided to settle in Pakistan in 2000 with their two daughters, Chandni and Sanjana.
He said that due to the “baseless” complaint of Shabnam’s brother Noel Hodges, who accused the petitioner of coercion on his wife, the police were harassing the couple and their family members, residing in Quaidabad. He said the police had compelled the petitioner’s wife to return to India.
After the preliminary hearing of the petition, a division bench, headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, issued notices to the advocate general of Sindh, the IGP, the SP Special Branch and others for August 7, and restrained the police from harassing the petitioner and his family members in the meantime.
Detention cases
The Sindh High Court on Thursday directed the SSP West to submit a joint investigation team’s report on the unlawful detention of two men.
The court was hearing a petition of Mohammad Saleem and Khan Bibi against the unlawful detention of Tariq Baloch and Dilawar Baloch, who went to a tea shop in the Old Golimar area on May 28, but did not return home.
Their counsel Mohammad Farooq submitted that the report regarding the disappearance of the detainees was lodged at the area police station; however, on June 5 a newspaper report disclosed the arrest of the detainees by the SIU. He said detainees were not produced before any court of law, and sought their production before the court.
Rangers and police officials denied the arrest or the detention of the two men. The home department submitted in their comments that a joint investigation team had been constituted under the supervision of the SSP West for the recovery of the detainees and a report would be submitted to the court.
The court observed that no JIT report was filed though team was constituted on July 10, and directed the SSP West to submit a report within 10 days.
The court also directed the police to recover and produce the detainees on July 30.
