April 6, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, April 5: Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned an appeal of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan challenging quashment of a case by the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench against a local car manufacturer.

Led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the bench adjourned the hearing for the first week of May.

At the last hearing, the apex court had granted leave to appeal to Sher Afghan against the order of the LHC which quashed an FIR registered against Indus Motors for allegedly producing defective vehicle which led to the death of his son, Behram Khan, in a road accident.

Behram Khan died due to defective SRS (Supplemental Restraint System) which failed to deploy the airbag.

Soon after the accident, Sher Afgan had told the reporters that the Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI) in his preliminary inspection had endorsed that death was caused due to non-functioning of SRS. The company, however, did not participate in the investigations.

A case was registered with the Margalla police under sections 322 punishment for (qatl-bis-sabab) and 420 (cheating and dishonesty) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The case was, however, challenged by motor company before the high court which quashed the FIR.

In his appeal before the Supreme Court, the minister also cited 1971 Shahnaz Begum case in which it was held that the high court had no jurisdiction to quash FIR.

Chief Executive and Managing Director of the company and president Toyota Japan are respondents in the case.