LAHORE: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a government’s appeal and set aside a decision of a Punjab Service Tribunal whereby a constable with a criminal record was restored to service.

Hearing the appeal at the Lahore registry, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmad observed that there should be no room for criminal record holders in the police.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi were other members at the bench.

The bench observed that the Lahore city had become a hub of street crime and the police should not tolerate ill-reputed officials.

Earlier, a government’s lawyer told the bench that constable Sarfraz Ahmad of Lower Mall Police Station was involved in kidnapping for ransom and patronising criminal gangs.

He said three criminal cases were registered against the constable.

The law officer said the constable also remained absent from his job for a long time without any intimation.

The constable’s counsel argued that his client had been acquitted in all cases, which he claimed, were fabricated. He pointed out that the service tribunal had pardoned the constable for the long absence from duty.

However, the bench allowed the government’s appeal and set aside the restoration of the constable by the tribunal.

The bench also dismissed appeals of six contract employees of the health department against their dismissal from service.

Separately, the bench issued notice to a convict involved in a triple murder case for enhancement of his sentence from five years to life imprisonment.

Justice Naqvi observed under what law the convict was given a lesser sentence for killing three persons and injuring three others.

The judge said the decision of the trial court was totally wrong.

The trial court had sentenced three convicts to death and Athar, the convict in-question, to 10-year imprisonment. Later, the high court commuted the death sentence of the three convicts to life imprisonment while the appellant’s 10-year imprisonment was commuted to five years.

A counsel for the convict said that he was a government employee and had been released from jail after completing his five-year sentence.

The bench issued notice to the convict on the complainant’s appeal for enhancement of sentence.

BAIL DISMISSED: A sessions court on Monday dismissed pre-arrest bail of Shahzadi Nargis, a widow of former governor of Balochistan Nawab Akbar Bugti, in a case of cybercrime for sharing objectionable pictures of her former daughter-in-law.

The cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had registered the case on the complaint of Wishah Abubakar.

The woman alleged the suspect uploaded her objectionable pictures and videos on social media. She also alleged that her former husband Shahzawar Bugti subjected her to physical torture and extended life threats to her.

Nargis was not in the court when the decision on her bail petition was announced.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2021