LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday dismissed a federal government appeal against an order for recalculating sentence of a military court convict in 2003 Musharraf attack case.

A division bench headed by Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi, while dismissing the intra-court appeal of the government, upheld the decision of a single bench and also withdrew a stay earlier granted in the appeal.

The mother of the convict had filed a habeas corpus petition challenging detention of her son, Adnan Khan, despite completion of sentence in the case of attack on former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf. And the single bench had passed the impugned order on the petition.

Petitioner’s counsel Mujahid Waseem had contended that the convict had undergone jail term handed down by a military court but the authorities were delaying his release. He said the military court awarded 15-year punishment to Khan but did not give him benefit in reduction of imprisonment with effect to on-trial detention under section 382-B of CrPC.

The lawyer said the detention of the convict was illegal as he had undergone his sentence.

Earlier, a single bench of the high court in Rawalpindi had dismissed a petition of the convict to this effect, however, a division bench later allowed his intra-court appeal directing the jail authorities to impart him benefit of section 382-B of CrPC and other government remissions.

The former president had escaped attempt on life on Dec 14, 2003 near Jhanda Chichi bridge, Rawalpindi.

YDA plea: The Lahore High Court chief justice on Wednesday allowed an application of Young Doctors Association seeking transfer of trial of a suspect allegedly involved in blackmailing female doctors through Facebook, WhatsApp and other social networking accounts.

YDA leader Salman Kazmi had filed the petition showing distrust of the judge of an anti-terrorism court seized with the trial.

The petitioner through his counsel argued that the court had been holding the trial in a discriminatory manner that would benefit the suspect. He said the trial court despite repeated requests had not summoned the case property (laptop, mobile phone card etc) recovered from the custody of the suspect. The lawyer asked the court to shift the trial from the court of ATC judge Chaudhry Azam to some other judge.

A deputy prosecutor told the court that the trial court judge was also not willing to further conduct the proceeding. At this, Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah allowed the petition.

The association’s leader alleged that suspect Abdul Wahab Alvi used to blackmail female doctors through their social networking websites’ accounts. He said many of the ‘victims’ of the suspect had to quit the medical profession and some faced refusal of marriage proposals.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2017