KARACHI, July 30: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of human rights activist Krishan Sharma’s case to August 4 for considering whether a civilian accused of spying under the Official Secrets Act must be tried by a military court under the Army Act.
Appearing for the petitioner, the detainee’s mother, Advocates Syed Ghulam Shah and Noor Naz Agha argued that even if a civilian was accused under Section 3 (espionage) of the Official Secrets Act, he had to be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest for remand and sent up for trial by a civil court of competent jurisdiction under Section 12-C of the same Act. Sharma was arrested on March 21 and has been in detention since. He had not even been allowed to see his mother or consult a lawyer. He had not been produced before a magistrate and was yet to be informed of the grounds of his arrest.
Deputy AG Syed Zaki Mohammad and Azhar Nadeem submitted that once Section 59 (4) of Army Act came into play, no other law remained applicable.
The bench, which consisted of Justices Zahid Kurban Alavi and Zia Perwez, formulated two points of contention argued by two sides — whether a civilian accused of spying under the Secrets Act could only be tried by a military court under Army Act and whether detention was justified.
