Mukhtar Mai case de-listed from SC cause list | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Mukhtar Mai case de-listed from SC cause list

ISLAMABAD: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday told Aitzaz Ahsan, counsel for Mukhtar Mai, that his case placed on No-1 at the regular cause list for Tuesday had been de-listed and it (bench) had not been intimated why it was done.

The bench consisted of Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Tariq Parvez. Mukhtar Mai, a resident of Meerwala, Muzaffargarh district, allegedly became a victim of a gang rape as a form of honour revenge on the orders of a panchayat of a local Mastoi clan. An anti-terrorism court convicted six men in the case and sentenced them to death on August 31, 2002. The convicts moved the Lahore High Court, which acquitted five of them on March 3, 2005. The federal government decided to appeal against the acquittal. In the meantime, the Federal Shariat Court decided to overrule the decision of the Lahore High Court and the accused were arrested again.

The very next day, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Shariat Court did not have the authority to overrule the decision, and decided to hear the case in the Supreme Court. The case is pending in the court since 2005. Talking to reporters at the Supreme Court, Aitzaz Ahsan said, “The case was de-listed, probably to be placed before another bench headed by Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, as that bench had been hearing the case earlier.”
Source: Daily Times
Date:3/17/2010