PESHAWAR, May 5: A local court on Saturday put on notice a surgeon in an application seeking murder charges against him for illegally removing a child’s kidney that resulted in the nine-year-old’s death.

Additional district and sessions judge Syed Zamurad Shah fixed May 12 for hearing the application filed under section 22-A of the Criminal Procedure Code by the father of the boy, Ziarat Gul.

The applicant said that an FIR had already been registered against the doctor under sections of Pakistan Penal Code dealing with injuring a person. Since the boy had now died, the case should be converted into that of intentional murder, he said.

The applicant had alleged that the doctor had removed his son’s kidney without his consent. The boy had been hospitalised for several months and died in a hospital last month.

The doctor was granted pre-arrest bail by a court on Aug 11. Later, the applicant filed a petition before the Peshawar High Court seeking cancellation of the pre-arrest bail, but the court dismissed the petition on Dec 15 and upheld the bail.

The FIR against the surgeon was registered on June 27 at University Town police station after an opinion was given by the legal branch of the police.

The complainant alleged that he had taken his son to a private hospital where the surgeon operated on the boy.

But since his son’s condition did not improve, he took him to a government hospital, where he was informed of the missing kidney.