LAHORE, Jan 24: A division bench of the Supreme Court observed here on Monday that most proclaimed offenders enjoyed the patronage of feudal lords and politicians who used them for political and electoral purposes.
Comprising Justice Falak Sher and Justice M Javed Buttar, the court also observed that POs, whom the politically influential people were harbouring, could make an impact on the forthcoming elections.
Another observation the court made was that if the police performed the legal duty by proceeding under sections 87 and 88 of the CrPC for attachment of PO's property, there would be no such elements in the future and they would themselves join investigation and trial.
Giving vent to its disquiet over the details of POs released by the Punjab government to newspapers, the bench said that the information was an eyewash. It hardly met the requirement of an SC order of Dec 31 under which all the provincial governments were to release to the press on a monthly basis reports on POs so that the people should know about the police performance in arresting "these dangerous outlaws".
The observation came during the proceedings of leave to appeal for three POs who had gone missing and were believed to have fled to Saudi Arabia. Muhammad Amin, Riaz Sarwar and his brother Mumtaz Sarwar are facing charges of double murder in their town Chichawatni, district Sahiwal, under an FIR registered on June 2, 1999.
The Punjab IGP submitted on Dec 31 to the Supreme Court that about 51,284 people had been declared either POs or court absconders. They included 28,569 proclaimed offenders.
Assistant advocate-general Raja Abdur Rehman submitted that the interior ministry and the Punjab Home Department had jointly initiated the process of seeking the extradition of the three POs from Saudi Arabia and it would be completed within a reasonable time.
He submitted that the Punjab government took up the matter of the extradition with the interior ministry which also involved the foreign office. The Punjab government also asked the interior ministry if the matter had been referred to the FIA or the Interpol. Later, international warrants of arrest for the three POs were issued. Besides, the property of accused Muhammad Amin was also being attached.
PRODUCTION ORDER: A full bench of the Supreme Court on Monday sought the production of its earlier order under which it suspended the conviction of advocate M. D. Tahir in contempt of court.
Comprising Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar and Justice Syed Tasaddaq Husain Jilani, the bench observed that there must be a cogent reason for such a conviction.
The court wanted to know what were the specific charges for which a single bench of the Lahore High Court had sentenced the lawyer to six-month imprisonment with fine on April 11, 2003.
The court adjourned the hearing of Mr Tahir's appeal against his conviction with date in office after officiating advocate-general Mohammad Haneef Khatana and the appellant's counsel Abdul Basit submitted that they would produce the SC order of June 2003 on the next date of hearing.
M. D. Tahir was convicted by a court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry, which found him crossing his limits as a defence lawyer while arguing a contempt of court petition.
Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa had announced on April 24, 2002, a decision in a writ petition seeking the government to bear the expense of 'Diyat' (blood money) for the murder convicts who could not pay the amount and continued to languish in prisons.
When some of the jail superintendents failed to comply with the court orders, Mr Tahir moved a contempt of court petition which was heard by another bench.
Meanwhile, he filed a separate contempt plea on behalf of a jail inmate at Attock which was heard by the chief justice who convicted the counsel for bringing the court into disrepute. The SC suspended the sentence the same day (April 11, 2003). The court wanted this order to be placed on record.
