KARACHI, Nov 6: The Sindh High Court suspended on Tuesday a district and sessions judge’s order for the registration of the first information report lodged by the PPP chairperson in the Oct 18 bomb explosions.
Officiating Advocate-General Masood A. Noorani challenged the order passed by the District and Sessions Judge, East (Karachi), for the registration of a second FIR by the Bahadurabad police in the blasts case. He argued that the impugned order was passed by the sessions judge in his capacity as ex-officio justice of peace for District East under Section 22-A of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Relying on the provisions of law and SHC and Lahore High Court judgments, he submitted that a sessions judge, in his capacity as ex-officio justice of peace, could only ask the police to entertain a complaint and register an FIR if a case was made out. It was for the police to ascertain whether a case had been made out by the complainant. The district and sessions judge exceeded his authority under Section 22-A, CrPC, by assuming the power to order the registration of an FIR rather than leaving it to the police to determine whether a new FIR was at all required in the presence of an FIR already registered.Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro, who heard the appeal, suspended the order and issued notices to the respondent complainant.
The district and sessions judge had held in the impugned order that there was no bar on the registration of a second FIR and that the petitioner (Ms Bhutto) was the proper person whose statement should have been recorded and a case registered on the basis of her statement.
He also ruled out the objection that since the case was being sought to be transferred, he should stay his proceedings. “Under Section 22-A of the CrPC, a sessions judge can direct an SHO to register the case in his capacity as ex-officio justice of peace,” the impugned order said.
