ISLAMABAD: In a case that serves to highlight the delays in dispensation of justice, the Supreme Court on Wednesday took up a bail plea moved by a convict for the purposes of obtaining medical treatment, but who had died of cancer two years ago.

The three-judge bench, headed by Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, which took up the two-page application of Lal Khan, had no choice but to dispose of the plea. Khan was put behind bars in 2012 on charges of kidnapping for ransom.

Advocate Syed Ali Imran, who represented the deceased in the bail application moved on Feb 20, 2020, told Dawn that he twice moved applications for an early hearing of the case, but to no avail.

The bail plea was taken up on Wednesday only after an application seeking adjournment was filed by Advocate Mian Ghazanfer Nawaz, who is representing a co-accused in the case, Ismatullah, and has contracted Covid-19.

During the hearing, the counsel for the convict told the bench that he would not object to the adjournment, but his client had already died of cancer.

He said he would like to pursue the main appeal of Lal Khan because he was a poor man whose properties had been forfeited under a court order.

The Supreme Court disposed of the bail application for becoming infructuous, but retained his appeal against the Nov 27, 2014 judgement of the Rawalpindi bench of Lahore High Court, in which the sentence awarded to Khan had been upheld.

Advocate Imran said his client had been advised by the jail authorities and doctors at the District Headquarters Hospital, Rawalpindi, and the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, to seek treatment at an oncology ward of a proper hospital.

In the meantime, Khan’s health deteriorated, the counsel said, as a consequence of which he moved the bail application seeking suspension of the sentence till the final disposal of his appeal.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2022