HARIPUR: A local court has admonished an additional assistant commissioner for encroaching on the powers of judiciary and directed him to file an explanation for it on the May 3 hearing.

District and sessions judge Jehanzeb Shinwari also asked AAC-I Mohammad Ali to produce details of the fines and sentences handed down to shopkeepers by him as the price magistrate to determine their legal status.

The court also wondered why the police “ignored” the role of the prosecution department in the matters in question.

The Haripur City Police Station booked owners of a crockery shop Shareefullah and Siddiqullah under the Pakistan Penal Code and anti-encroachment law on April 11 on the interim challan produced by AAC Mohammad Ali.

The trader brothers were charged with encroaching on government land, violating the code of conduct and interfering with the official duty of the price magistrate. The police later arrested Siddiqullah and produced him in the court of the AAC, who ordered his 30-day detention. The convict’s brother, Shareefullah, was at large.

Asks AAC to produce records of fines, sentences on May 3 hearing

A judicial magistrate brought the matter to the notice of sessions judge Jehanzeb Shinwari, who declared, “The ACC, being a price magistrate, apparently has no mandate of the law to proceed, convict or acquit anyone involved in a crime contained in the Pakistan Penal Code, so the court is compelled to proceed [on the matter] under Section 439-A of CrPC read with Section 435 of CrPC.”

He also directed the AAC to appear in the court on April 20, explain under what law or rules, he took the cognisance of a PPC crime, and produce records of the case.

The court also directed the district jail’s superintendent to produce the convict with the relevant records, while the SHO (City) was asked to explain under which authority and law he submitted the challan to a court with no jurisdiction to examine the PPC cases and why the challan was not filed through the prosecution.

It asked the district public prosecutor about the offences the AAC committed by misusing his government office.

SHO (City) Siddique Shah and AAC Mohammad Ali appeared before the court on April 20. The judge asked Mr Ali to attend the May 3 hearing to file a written explanation for overstepping his powers and produce records of the fines and sentences imposed by him since assuming the ACC-I office.

KILLED: Two people were killed and 13 injured in road accidents here during Eid holidays, the police said on Monday.

Police said Mufti Hamid Khan, a 25-year-old resident of Churwai village in Amazai area, was killed after being struck by a heavy log on Monday.

They also said gunmen killed a resident and injured another over an old family feud in the Makhniyal area on Saturday.

The police identified the deceased as Haseeb Abbasi and the injured as Azhar Abbasi, who was admitted to the Khanpur Civil Hospital.

Six road accidents were also reported here on Eid holidays with at least 12 people suffering injuries.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2023