LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday sought a report from interior ministry on a petition seeking release of an Indian prisoner languishing in a local jail despite completion of his prison term.
Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik asked the ministry to file a reply by March 16, otherwise the court would decide the matter on merit.
Advocate Awais Sheikh had submitted a petition seeking inclusion of Indian prisoner Sarabjeet Singh alias Makhan Singh in the list of foreigners languishing in local jails despite serving their sentences.
The petitioner sought court directions to the foreign affairs secretary and Kot Lakhpat Jail superintendent in this respect.
The jail superintendent had earlier informed the court that though Singh's prison term had expired a year back, his fate would be decided in the light of directions from the General Headquarters (GHQ) and the Presidency.
He said that he had written four times to the Punjab inspectorate of prisons and the home department, seeking guidance on the issue in the light of GHQ directions.
Singh, imprisoned since Oct 1985 after being handed down death sentence under the Army Act, had submitted his mercy petition to the army chief. It was rejected with the direction of forwarding the same to the President of Pakistan.
The president commuted Singh's death sentence to life term under a general amnesty granted to all condemned prisoners. Since December, 1988, he is being treated as a lifer.
The jail officer said Singh's sentence expired on Oct 30, 2010, and in the light of GHQ directions his mercy petition was referred to the president but there was no progress on the plea.
Meanwhile, Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi has ordered release of Dr Majid Naeem on bail.
The former IT consultant of all education boards in Punjab was held on fraud and corruption charges following intermediate results fiasco.
The court also granted bail to a co-accused, Mian Tariq Masood, the system analyst of Lahore Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE). Each of the accused will submit a Rs500,000 bail bond.
The counsel for the defence pleaded that the anti-corruption senior special judge dismissed the bail applications of his clients without any cogent reason.
The counsel also pleaded that no time and date was given in the FIR registered against the accused without specifying the allegations and the witnesses.
The FIR had been registered under sections 409 and 420 of the CrPC on complaint of higher education department Section Officer Arshad Mahmood.
Submitting the inquiry report that formed the basis of the FIR, the counsel said the case was registered on mere assumptions and lacked any concrete evidence.