LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has directed the Punjab home department to decide an application of a 101-year-old prisoner seeking constitution of a medical board to determine whether he is physical fit to serve his life imprisonment in a murder case.

Mehdi Khan was 86 when a trial court of Gujrat convicted him during 2006 in a murder case. At least seven people were killed following a family feud.

Later, a sessions court acquitted him of the charge in 2009 while the complainant challenged his acquittal before the high court.

The LHC in 2019 set aside the sessions court’s decision and restored the sentence of Khan handed down by the trial court.

Representing Khan, Advocate Hamza Haider pleaded before the high court that a medical board be established to determine the medical condition of his client.

He further asked the court to order the home department to grant premature release of the petitioner under rule 146 of the jail manual.

He said an application to the effect had been lying pending with the prisons department.

An official of the prisons department informed the court that the application of the petitioner had been transmitted to the home department.

On a short notice, a section officer of the home department appeared before the court and said the department was ready to decide the application of the petitioner within a fortnight.

Justice Raja Shahid Mehmood Abbasi disposed of the petition and directed the home department to decide the petitioner’s application within three weeks after the receipt of attested copy of the court’s order.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2020