LARKANA, Oct 30: The Larkana circuit bench of the Sindh high Court on Thursday convicted a man of giving a false statement before a court of law and sentenced him to one-year rigorous imprisonment.

The court also slapped Rs5,000 fine on Khamiso Bughio and said if he failed to pay the amount, he would undergo a month more simple imprisonment.

The court issued the order in the course of proceedings of a petition filed by one Mohammed Punhal Shaikh, who complained that Mohammed Saleem and Khamiso Bughio, husband and father-in-law of her daughter Ms Khalida, were not allowing him to meet with his daughter.

He said that she was married to Saleem about a year ago and expressed fear she might have been killed.

In an earlier hearing, Justice Zaffar Ahmed Sherwani, had inquired Khamiso about the whereabouts of his son and daughter-in-law to which he had replied that both were in Karachi. But the petitioner contradicted his statement and said that both were present in the village in Warah.

The court put the proceedings on hold and asked the SHO of Warah police station and SHO of women’s police station to visit the village along with the petitioner and ascertain whether Ms Khalida and his husband were present there.

The court took up matter again on Thursday when the SHO Khadim Hussain Buledi and ASI Ms Mumtaz Abbasi produced Ms Khalida with her one and a half year old baby in her lap in the court.

Ms Khalida told the court that she had been in the village for long and facing maltreatment at the hands of her husband and father-in-law. She said she was even not allowed to see her parents and her husband and father-in-law had registered false case against them.

She said in her statement that she desired to go live with her father.

The court asked the Khamiso why he had given a false statement in court and said that he had committed offence with mala fide intention to mislead the court and sentenced him to one-year rigorous imprisonment.

The court also quashed the FIR registered at Warah police station as the additional advocate general Azizul Haq Solangi had no objection to it.

Khamiso Bughio was remanded to jail to serve out the sentence and Ms Khalida with her daughter was allowed to go live with her father. The court then disposed of the petition, Nisar Ahmed Abro, the petitioner’s lawyer said.