KARACHI, March 26: The owner of a factory and others charged with dumping highly toxic industrial waste in an open area that claimed the lives of two children and caused injuries to 15 others in Site Town were acquitted on Wednesday.

The district and sessions judge, West, Syed Zakir Hussain, said he based his decision on a lack of evidence against the accused.

The defence counsel had moved an application under Section 265-K of the criminal procedure code for the acquittal of his clients in the case.

Section 265-K empowers a court to acquit an accused at any stage if it “considers that there is no probability of the accused being convicted of any offence.”

After recording arguments on the application, the judge acquitted factory owner Farooq Garib, manager Aslam Baig, driver Sher Khan and Abdul Rahmen. He said that the prosecution had failed to prove that the toxic industrial waste was dumped by the impleaded factory.

Defence counsel M. Illyas Khan submitted that the prosecution had failed to provide evidence regarding the dumping of the toxic waste by his clients.

He argued that the cases should proceed under the environmental protection law instead of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The complainant, Dr Iqbal Saeed Khan, former director of the Sindh Environment Protection Agency, former deputy director of Sepa Ashfaq Hussain Pirzada and police sub-inspector Syed Waqar Hussain had recorded their statements in the case on the previous hearings. The prosecutor did not oppose the application.

The prosecution said that in March 2006, around 17 children aged between seven and 10 while playing in the area got serious injuries due to a toxic chemical dumped on a plot of Site. They were brought to the National Institute of Child Health on March 15 and March 17. Two of the affected children died.

The Sindh Environment Protection Agency had lodged a case (FIR 181/07) at the Site police station under Sections 322 and 286 of the Pakistan Penal Code against the accused.

The police arrested the accused soon after the incident. They were later released on bail.—Ishaq Tanoli