A Karachi sessions court on Tuesday set aside a June 18 judicial magistrate's verdict ordering the exhumation and post-mortem examination of deceased lawmaker and television personality Aamir Liaquat Husain.

Following Hussain's sudden death on June 9, the police had wanted to perform an autopsy but conducted only a preliminary examination before relinquishing custody of the body to his family after they refused a post-mortem. He was buried the following day.

On June 18, a Karachi judicial magistrate ordered authorities to conduct a post-mortem on the televangelist's body after which a six-member medical board was constituted for the purpose.

This order was subsequently challenged by the former lawmaker's children Duaa-e-Aamir and Ahmed Aamir, which was accepted today.

In the court order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, Additional Sessions Judge-II (East) Ghulam Mustafa Laghari said it seemed the magistrate had "committed material irregularity and illegality in passing the impugned order, which is illegal and requires interference by this court".

Thus, Judge Laghari said, the trial court's order was illegal, set aside and allowed the instant revision application.

He explained that the case laws submitted by the counsel of Abdul Ahad —on whose petition the magistrate issued the order to exhume Aamir — were "distinguishable and not applicable" to the facts and circumstances of the current case.

In the June 18 order, while ordering the exhumation of Hussain’s body, Judicial Magistrate (East) Wazeer Hussain Memon had observed that the cause of his death was still uncertain, which itself had raised questions about whether it was natural or unnatural and could only be ascertained after exhuming the body and its examination.

On June 22, Hussain’s family challenged the magistrate’s decision in the Sindh High Court (SHC), which had then granted an interim stay against his exhumation.

On July 28, the SHC disposed of their petition with a direction to challenge the order in question before the relevant sessions’ court and extended the stay order for 10 days or till a revision application was filed before the competent forum.

On August 6, Judge Laghari stayed the exhumation of Hussain’s body for an autopsy till August 11 on an application filed by the children of the former lawmaker — Duaa-e-Aamir and Ahmed Aamir — who had challenged the June 18 verdict.

The applicants' lawyer, Zia Awan, had argued that the citizen, Ahad, on account of his previous political rivalry with the late MNA had filed the application for exhuming the body for an autopsy.

He had expressed apprehension that his clients would suffer an irreparable loss if the stay order was not granted.