November 19, 2008	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 20, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 18: The administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts, Karachi, on Tuesday remanded a woman and her three associates in jail custody till Dec 2 for their alleged involvement in two cases of kidnapping for ransom.

The suspects, Laiba, Imran Ahsan alias Sunny, Salman Qureshi and Zubair, are facing charges of kidnapping Talha Siddiqui, 14, on Nov 2 in Gulshan-i-Iqbal when he along with his father was driving back to his residence. The kidnappers had demanded Rs25 million for his release.

However, the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee and the Anti-violent Crime Cell arrested the suspects in a joint operation in the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police limits on Nov 4. The police also recovered the victim from their custody and lodged a case under Section 365-A of the PPC on the complaint of the victim’s father.

In the second case, the suspects were charged with kidnapping Khurram Javed on Oct 10 in the limits of the Sharea Faisal police station.

The prosecution said that on Oct 26 they released the victim after collecting a ransom of Rs1 million. The police registered a case under Section 365-A of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of Noor Javed at the Sharea Faisal police station.

The court directed the investigation officer to submit charge-sheets on the next date of hearing.

Acquittal plea

A division bench of the Sindh High Court comprising Justices Mohammad Athar Saeed and Arshad Noor Khan asked an accountability court to decide an acquittal plea moved by accused Sahibdad Khan Mengal, former executive engineer of the Karachi Bulk Water Supply Project, within four months.

Advocate Masooda Siraj argued on behalf of the accused that he had moved the trial court for his acquittal under Section 265-K of the criminal procedure code as there was no evidence in the case and the trial was unlikely to result in conviction. However, the trial was adjourned by the court indefinitely without adjudicating his urgent plea, the lawyer submitted.

Sara Jatoi’s case

Another division bench consisting of Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Ghulam Dastgir A. Shahani, meanwhile, asked the Sukkur deputy inspector-general of police to ensure the presence of respondents, who had not answered the summons, on the next date of hearing. Sara Jatoi and Ismail Soomro, who were declared ‘karo kari’ by an illegal jirga, appeared with their infant son. Advocate Shafqat Shah Masoomi appeared for the petitioners.

In another free-will marriage case, the bench consisting of Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Dr Qamaruddin Bohra issued notices to Farzana’s father and grandfather who had lodged a kidnapping case against Saif Ali, her husband, for Nov 25. The petitioners said they married of their own free will on Nov 3 but Farzana’s father and grandfather lodged a criminal complaint. They also had them declared ‘karo kari’. Notices were also issued to the town police officer of Naushehro Feroze and other official respondents.

Retrial ordered

Meanwhile, a single-member bench of the Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Athar Saeed, set aside the impugned order of an additional district and sessions court and remanded the case back to the trial court, directing it to hear the case on merit.

Major (retd) Zargham Mirza, through his counsel, moved a criminal revision application to the court against the order, arguing that the application against the private complaint was dismissed on Dec 12, 2003 due to non-prosecution and a restoration application was also dismissed on March 31, 2004 by the trial court.

He added that by this order the applicant was allowed to file a fresh revision plea, which was filed and dismissed on Aug 8, 2004 as being hopelessly time barred.