SHC notice to AG on rape victims’ plea
KARACHI, July 16: The Sindh High Court issued notices to the advocate-general for July 23 in applications by two gang-rape victims for the transfer of their cases from the Dadu and Ghotki districts to Karachi.
Applicant Kainat Soomro, 13, submitted through Advocate Zia Ahmed Awan that it was after a considerable delay and reluctance that the area police registered her complaint and arrested the four accused. Her complainant father and other members of family had been threatened with ‘dire consequences’ and they had shifted to Karachi for safety.
They were still under pressure from the accused and their relatives and friends to withdraw the case. It was well-nigh impossible for her and her father to return to Dadu and pursue their criminal complaint and adduce evidence against the influential accused.
Applicant Naseema Labano submitted that the case against her 11 rapists, four of whom were still at large, was being heard by a sessions court of Mirpur Mathelo. She and her relatives were facing death threats and it was due to the provincial government’s intervention that they had taken refuge in Karachi. The threats kept them from pursuing the gang-rape case in their hometown.
Both applicants came to the court with their counsel and a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui, issued notices after a brief hearing in chamber.
Bail extended
Earlier, the bench extended the interim bail granted to provincial education secretary Subhago Khan Jatoi and adjourned further hearing of his petition to a date in office. The secretary is being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau for allegedly acquiring assets beyond known sources of his income. He was given interim bail in the sum of Rs500,000.
Gas station
Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, meanwhile, adjourned the hearing of a suit against installation of a compressed natural gas station on a residential plot (No 141-A) in Block 2 of the PECHS.
Non-governmental Organisation Shehri said in its suit through Advocate Naeemur Rehman that the gas pump would be a health hazard. It was situated in an exclusively residential area near Kashmir Road and any permission granted for its installation was unlawful.
The hearing was adjourned to July 22 and the interim stay against the defendants was extended in the meanwhile.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/17/2007
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